Fraught with Peril: A Halo Mass Effect Story
by A-01
Summary: John was born for war, and even in the wake of defeating the Didact, there will be no respite. Thrust into the Mass Effect Universe he must either find his place or find his way home as his presence brings new hope to Shepard and his campaign against the approaching Reaper armada.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi folks!**

 **I'm a huge fan of both Halo and Mass Effect, but I personally find Master Chief John more sympathise-able then Mass Effect John (or Jane –I debated with myself if I would use M or F Shep). And that's just because within Canon material, we see Halo John suffer a great deal more and stay much more resolute despite the suffering he personally goes through and witnesses. His personality is expanded upon a whole lot in the books.  
But to the point; whilst going from playing ME to Halo I was inspired to write a story for one, and I came up with nothing, mostly due to being so content with the story of each, so a crossover was the natural next best choice. : -) **

**Should there be a romance? Between Shepard and who? What kind of shade would this romance be in?  
Should Halo John have a romance of some description?  
Please share your thoughts. **

**Should it be Rated T or M?  
For now it will be M**

 **I have a very loose and general plan for where I want to take this story, but please do review your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. If you do not like this story and it's for any explainable reason, please also review as constructively as possible.**

 **I can't promise that I will update quickly either. I own a food business so especially this time of year work can get a little hectic. But in saying that, I rather enjoy writing, and my holidays are right around the corner, so I will seek to write however much I can whenever I can.**

 **I hope you enjoy! : -)**

 **Fraught With Peril**

 **Chapter One**

 **:: From Where, Exactly? ::**

His heavy brow was set firmly in a frown. His vibrant blue eyes were shrewdly looking at nothing as he solely focused on his thoughts, his pain. A steady frown held control over his facial features. Lips that were once full and stress-free were taught with upset. Skin that was once smooth and unmarred was wrinkled and scarred, cheeks sunken with stress and sadness.

John wasn't the picture of a man that any mother would want for her son.

The thought very briefly made him wonder of his mother; his real mother. Not Catherine Halsey. Not that he held anything against Halsey for what had happened to him and his adoptive brothers and sisters. He was sure that he'd have been melted into the slag of a Covenant bombardment on one of the many human worlds lost if not for his timely abduction.

A ping sounded through his helmet speakers, rousing his attention from his wandering thoughts and to the environment beyond the tech-infused hardened glass of his golden visor. There wasn't much to see, as he'd expected, he was floating aimlessly amidst a cloud of debris.

He blinked his left eye in two rapid successions, and the microsensors responded appropriately by bringing a display of his suit's systems across the visor. _'Good.'_ He thought to himself, seeing that everything was in perfect condition. That clashing with the Didact and falling through a nuclear explosion hadn't compromised the integrity of his armour or any of its inbuilt systems.

Again the ping sounded. John blinked both of his eyes in exaggerated rapid succession again, and his suit read out vanished, to be replaced by his communications system. A radio signal was pinging his personal frequency, seemingly in an attempt to make contact.

John frowned at the oddity, temporarily pushing his upset at the very recent loss of Cortana from his mind. He couldn't fathom why any UNSC vessel would need to ping his frequency as a handshake for communication, especially when they knew he'd been in conflict aboard the Mantles Approach.

Out of habit, he sent a frequency ping back to whoever was trying to handshake him.

The result was instantaneous; a distinctly female voice spoke through his helmet speakers. "You have entered Omega space if your flight suit is not disabled please either dock at the main port or vacate your location. You are in a freight zone."

John's left eyebrow rose in surprise and curiosity as his right stayed in a confused frown. He pulled the facts he was aware of together quickly. Omega was a word typically used within UNSC military call signs and code names, but he was not aware of any space station above or around Earth named as such. Someone clearly had eyes on him to ascertain that he was in some kind of suit. But most concerning of all, being told as a warning that he was in a freight zone.

The last he'd known above Earth, any and all freight zones had been abandoned and suspended in the wake of the Didacts attack. The woman who'd spoken to him was clearly not UNSC, and clearly not privy to his very recent conflict.

Both of his eyebrows climbed his forehead as his eyes widened, a result of his mind jumping to a conclusion. _'I fell into the slip space portal!'_

"This is Sierra 117, my suit's thrusters have insufficient capacity to carry me to dock."

A moment of tense silence tempted John to nudge a tiny burst from his thrusters to bring him slowly around. The sight of the massive, sprawling space station built into a rock was revealed to him, and he instantly drew comparisons to High Charity. The thoughts of High Charity quickly vanished as he realised that this station was barely a fraction of the Covenants former mobile home world.

"Sierra 117, a shuttle is on the way to collect you. You're lucky that Shepard's with Aria right now!"

The answer only made John wonder more. To him, it almost sounded like code. Aria was clearly the individual or group who commanded the station or its ship logistics, and the statement that he was lucky about this 'Shepard' being present implied that Aria didn't much care for the safety of anyone around the station and that Shepard did.

John couldn't help but wonder if it was code or just coincidental names. The chances of someone called "Shepard" bringing him into safety were incredibly small; given his history.

"Acknowledged," He replied simply into his mic.

His HUD shifted into a new setting, and the hundreds of tiny service shuttles and vessels buzzing around the station were lit up in green. Several other frigate classified vessels were highlighted in white with an overlay of their trajectory heading away or to what was clearly the main port, and several larger freight vessels moving in his general direction from the station were highlighted red.

It barely took a minute for one of the greenlit shuttles to veer away from the station and zip in his direction. As it drew within a hundred meters of him, he peered closely at it, trying to draw comparisons to anything he knew. He came up blank. The vessel, thankfully, didn't look Covenant or Forerunner remotely, and it did have an oddly Human design to it with its blocky shape, despite it being so incredibly different to anything he knew in the UNSC.

He sidelined his thoughts on what faction he was dealing with when the side hatch slid back along the blocky structure, and a woman in a form-fitting suit with a full head helmet was revealed. Her visor was a sleek, thin strip of glass directly over her eyes, leaving John guessing if the suit and its accompanying helmet were simply enviro suit or body armour.

The woman gently dove from the safe confines of her craft and within moments was within reaching distance of John. He instantly drew the comparison that she was within normal human build, which was small compared to his large frame.

"You're a big guy, aren't ya?" She mused with a joking tone over an open com channel.

John didn't react. He didn't know how.

Sensing his lack of interest in her comment; she reached out and grabbed hold of his outreached right hand. Obviously satisfied with her grip, she gave the tether attached to her hip a tug, and it started reeling them both back toward the open transport bay of the shuttle.

"Where are we?" John asked suddenly, noting the total lack of insignia on the woman's suit.

She angled her helmet to be looking into his visor and cocked her head slightly to her left. Clearly, she was confused by his own confusion.

"Omega," She repeated the name he'd heard earlier, as though it were obvious.

John instantly questioned himself if it should be obvious, and he could find no reason for it to be. He distantly remembered one of his earliest missions being an infiltrate and snatch and grab mission in an Innie asteroid base called the rubble, but he was one hundred percent certain that the Rubble had not evolved into being this "Omega."

And of the many, many, many, asteroid based munition stores and probe bays, the UNSC had he was certain that none of them were remotely like this.

"Am I in UN- Human, space?" John queried as they entered the confines of the shuttle and the door slid shut behind them, but not before the subtle inertia of their acceleration made him brace against the ceiling as the crafts artificial gravity kicked in.

Again, the woman cocked her head at him. "Human space? You're a long, looooooong way from Human space."

John was silent and stood statue still. His eyes darted back and forward in thought as he strung information together to draw conclusions about where and how he was. There were a rare few Human colonies that had escaped the war, and now claimed their independence from the UNSC, but they still considered their space Human space.

His eyes snapped to the woman in front of him, _'Does that mean she isn't Human?'_

John very subtly shook his head at the thought, _'How else could she speak English, if she wasn't Human?'_

He justified to himself, hoping that she truly was Human. _'What else could she be? We don't know any species that physically resemble Humans so much, besides the Forerunners, and they're dead.'_

"Hey, are you alright?"

John's vision refocused on her.

"How did you get out here, if you don't know where here is?"

' _I don't know,'_ The super soldier immediately answered in his head, but his mouth moved before his conscious mind could understand, "Slip-Space."

"Slip space?" The woman repeated. "Some kind of drug or booze?" She continued after a moment of clear thought.

Her attempt at trying to understand what Slip Space was only served to concern John further.

"Are you Human?"

Again, the female figure struck a 'What,' pose. "Of course not."

John stiffened at her nonchalant answer, barely registering that she was already continuing.

"I mean, I shouldn't say it like that, there are plenty of Human's on Omega these days. But no, I'm still true to my blue." She finished with a short chortle of laughter.

John's eyes narrowed at her, he was passed the point of incredulity and was now simply trying to make heads and tails of the facts around him. This woman was an Alien, point and fact. She spoke English, fluently. She was confused by his own confusion. She was familiar with Humans, even making what seemed to be some kind of joke that he didn't get regarding colour. She had no clue what Slip Space was.

His mind was diving from one thought, one answer, to the next. Vain attempts at understanding this strange place he found himself in. The Galaxy was big, huge, unimaginably vast; and Human space was confined to around half of the Orion Spur. For him to be told in such a nonchalant fashion that he was a long way from Human space with such familiarity was an impossibility.

A deep part of John's mind woke up with an instinctive answer that he didn't want to listen to but felt it best to. "I'm not from this world."

She laughed again, this time much more openly, "That makes two of us! Thank the Goddess! Being from THIS world would be hell!"

Her joking answer filled in a surprising amount of gaps in John's assumptions about this station, and he didn't resist the slight smirk that took his lips. "No. I am not from this," He paused, seeing her visor looking right at him, he swung his arms around as though to generally gesture at everything, "WORLD."

Silence reigned in the small room, made especially small by John's monolithic presence.

"You mean-"

"-Docking, doors opening in a second!" The pilot's voice cut off the woman. But John answered her with a nod nevertheless.

True to the pilot's word, the same doors that he'd been fished from space through mere minutes earlier opened to a thrum of a busy civilian docking bay. John instinctively looked out toward the bustling bay, his hand carefully hovering over the Magnum clamped onto the top of his right quad guard out of habit toward unknowns.

Upon a moment of further observation, John corrected his opinion of the docks being civilian. They were thrumming and humming with civilian traffic, Humans in a range of different styled clothing, dresses, skirts, pants, cloaks, armour. Blue skinned women with cuttlefish-like growths on their scalps similarly garbed, Human-sized and shaped aliens which looked like a hybrid of bird and crustation in their own version of the same clothes. Large hump-backed reptilian creatures, slender and small amphibian looking bipeds with fleshy horn-like growths on their heads, and gnarly skinned demonic looking aliens sticking in small groups.

All of them seemed to be here on their own private agendas. Some collected fruits, meats, and other consumables from crates that were being unloaded from freight ships and bartering with the crew, also of mixed species, but distinctly different in their state of being more heavily and obviously armed, and with logos stamped on shoulders or painted on skin.

"This is a pirate station?" John asked the woman still standing beside him in the open shuttle.

She stepped forward and made a slow, deliberate show of removing her helmet, revealing ocean blue skin with sky blue eyes peering curiously at him. The same cuttlefish like scalp growths that the blue female aliens beyond the shuttle had were likewise on her head, obviously a feature of her species.

"No, well not exactly."

John did his best to ignore the fact that she was an alien, and simply paid attention to her. She'd not shown him even the most remote sign of hostility, and he truly was the alien here.

"Aria-" She paused and gestured up and down her own body, "One of my kind, is the leader. I guess the most accurate description of Omega would be calling it a criminally organised government which enables criminal and mercenary factions to do business here. If those factions get out of line, Aria and her men bring them back into line. Civilians are allowed to live here as they would anywhere else, but crime is definitely worse than anywhere else."

John thought on the description, and the righteous part of him wanted to draw issue with the principled part of it, but he had to admit that it was essentially the same foundation that most civilisations came from.

"Look," The blue woman started again. "You're obviously a Human, like no Human I've ever seen with your size, but Human. If you are from a different- World. All I can do is take you to Aria and see what she thinks could be best for you."

At this John did completely settle his hand over the grip of his Magnum, while his left now hovered over the Forerunner bolt shot on his left quad guard.

She held up her hands pleadingly. "Woo woo woo, I get that you're probably military too. Special forces or something, right?"

John made no verbal response.

"I used to be military too, so I know how it is with the whole being principled thing, but Aria isn't a criminal." She very noticeably cringed at her choice of words. "Well, she is, but not like you'd think. She keeps the entire terminus systems in check, and relatively safe."

John didn't like the sound of a crime lord distributing justice, but he released a tense breath inside his helmet and released his grip on his pistol. "Okay."

"Okay." She reflected back, taking a quick step out of the shuttle and onto the grubby concrete of the port, "Follow me."

John did as told, and instantly moved into formation behind her, taking a moment to nudge a button in the chin on his helmet the increase the magnetism of the clamps holding the various weapons, grenades, and ammunition around his body as he caught the odd greedy glance sent his way irrespective of his daunting hulking mass.

"If you can take care of yourself, Omega isn't actually such a bad place to live." The blue woman leading him began to explain, clearly trying to make small talk to alleviate any tension.

John was sure that any tension that there was between them was entirely single sided. He was long accustomed to silences.

"I mean, you get here, you either get a job with one of the crime gangs which keeps you pretty safe, and there are plenty of great apartment blocks, or you just get an honest to eezo job and know how to defend your own personal space and make a decent scrape." She gestured to an Asian man and a girl who would appear to be his daughter behind a steaming trolley next to a doorway they were heading to.

"That's Mister Chang and his girl, they run Tokyo Grub and Grill. You'd be amazed by how well they do setting up here every day, but you can't let him know that some of us Asari know there's a difference between Chinese and Japanese." She laughed again and looked over her shoulder at John.

John was indeed impressed with the docking bay. Not militaristically or logistically, but culturally. It was a marvel, a melting pot of alien and human cultures, where the shores met the new lands. He ignored the grinding unease running through his blood of the thought of Humans living so comfortably with any Aliens. He'd spent the better part of his life in a genocidal war against an Alien Empire.

They came to a halt at the door next to the Chinese man and his trolley outfitted with a grill and bench. A green holographic interface spun in response to a hand gesture, and the door slid open with a hiss of pressure. A moment later and the hustle and bustle of the docks were behind them, replaced by the background hum of machines and electronic ads.

"My name's Theia, by the way, what's yours?"

"Master Chief Petty Officer 117," John replied on instinct and habit.

They came to another door and quickly passed through, instantly revealing to John that the docks and the hallway they'd just traversed were drilled through the exterior of the asteroid and that this internal space was a completely mined out complex.

"Isn't that a rank?" Theia questioned, interrupting John's gaze wondering around the distant ceiling and the numerous clusters of towers, and the flying cars zipping through the air in coordinated madness.

"Yes." Came his flat reply.

"Definitely special forces then," Theia confirmed to herself, not looking back at him as she continued onward past a new type of alien preaching the end of days toward a large building with flashing lights and advertised dancers with the name "AFTERLIFE" imposed over and entryway.

"No. Not exactly."

"Aren't you cryptic." She shot back quickly.

John could understand her frustration. Obviously, she was a social person, and he assumed that most the people on this station were, to an extent, and he was clearly a new element in her world. Her curiosity was peaked, and he was taking the cap off that peak without even trying.

"Sorry, Ma'am. I am from a special branch of the military, Spartan Ops." In his own reality, John would have never told anyone besides a good Navy Captain or Admiral. But he was quickly drawing upon thoughts of how he could ever get back to his own universe, and even the philosophical point of- if his universe even needed him anymore.

"The other soldiers in your unit as social as you?" She joked.

John genuinely thought about his response as they slowed for the doors to After Life to slowly open to a neon-lit beyond. "We were all relatively social with one another, but there were a few who could fit into a normal crowd."

Theia laughed again and smiled as she gestured for him to enter through the next door with her. "I suppose you don't take sarcasm so well, do you?"

His shoulder rose and fell a few centimetres in response. He supposed she was right in that observation. He'd had practically no experience with civilians or civilians who'd been soldiers for that matter, or the same vice versa.

Theia nodded to a platform suspended above a living dancefloor. "Aria is up there!" She shouted over the roar of the music and the crowd.

"This way!"

Again, John followed her, but this time from by her side, around the edge of the room toward a staircase that followed the wall upwards. He took note absently of the complete comfort of the aliens and humans mingling together. Of the blue-skinned alien women and other human women in dancers outfits on platforms gyrating above the crowd.

He felt as though he'd just stepped into a totally different kind of cultural melting pot.

"Aria is hundreds of years old, and she is the queen and ruler of Omega," Theia said as quietly as she could to him as the neared the top of the stairs. John made no gestures or sounds of understanding, so she continued, "Don't upset her in any way."

John figured that advice made sense, so answered with a subtle nod just before one of the armoured and armed hump-backed reptilian aliens stepped in front of the pair.

"No one past this point!" He growled in a deep guttural tone.

"We need to speak with Aria!" Theia cried angrily and jabbed a finger toward the booth turned platform not far beyond the bouncer.

"Aria has had enough annoyances today, get lost!"

Theia's eye shot wide as in an instant the circumstances of her life were threatened. The Krogan made to shove her back with what would have been something between a punch to the gut and a shove, but his fist never made contact.

John's hand blocked the strike with impossible speed and strength, stopping the Krogan's fist dead.

A part of Theia was ecstatic that she had been saved from a moment of pain and humiliation, but the rest of her was much more afraid of being in any kind of scrape with Aria's men and then being executed. But she clearly had zero control of the situation now, as the Krogan's eyes went wide in surprise and rage, and a guttural roar erupted from him as he moved to send his right fist into John's helmet, which Theia only now just realised stood comfortably taller than the Krogan.

John's twofold defence and offence was sickeningly swift and effective. In the instant that the Krogan sent his right fist towards his helmeted head, he tightened his grip on the aliens left fist that he still held in defence of Theia. As he tightened his grip, he viciously twisted his own wrist with the result of an audible snap of bone before the Krogan had any chance to react to what would have been crippling pain John's right fist impacted the side of his temple from a lightning fast jab.

Theia felt sickened seeing and hearing John's fist hitting the Krogan's head with a meaty 'THWACK' and the bone structure beneath simply giving way as though it were made of card. The bouncer dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The entire "fight" had only lasted a matter of seconds.

She felt a wave of horror waft over her. Firstly from the fact that she was just involved in the very public killing of one of Aria's men, so public that Aria was witness to it. And secondly from the fact that the killer was a Human who'd killed a Krogan as though it were nothing.

Her mind spun in fear, and she registered a faint clapping sound in the background, gulping at the sound thinking that it must be thermal clips being slapped into weapons. John's shadow loomed over her, another protective action that she was sure was bound to only make matters worse.

But the sound of clapping was quickly joined by a melodic chortle of laughter. "It's nice getting a new show every once in a while."

A shiver visibly went down Theia's spine, but John remained completely unmoved, blocking her from view. He wasn't being overprotective. But his initial reaction in defending her had been sheer instinct in protecting a non-combatant from an unprovoked threat. Then his follow-on assault on the alien was a simple matter of neutralising a threat, as he'd spent his entire life doing.

"So, I don't think you're a mech?"

Mech was a word that even people in his reality used, commonly in a civilian capacity, but John understood quickly enough. "No Ma'am-"

"-Ma'am, oh!" Aria stepped closer yet to John, her words coming out a coo.

The shiver that had gone down Theia's spine seemed like an insignificant reaction compared to the dread she felt when she felt the slight shift in air from Aria's biotics flaring like a blue flame around her body, even seeing the glow from behind John's towering frame.

"Soldier boy, is that it?"

John understood this kind of person, in his younger years this kind of approach would have made him grit his teeth but comply. In this case, he nodded his head without issue or fault, "Yes, Ma'am."

"I don't think he knows who I am!" Aria claimed with a sarcastic and mirth filled voice, spinning on her heel to face her assembled guard, each of them at the ready. "No one fucks with Ar-"

Theia wanted to kick herself for her timing in finding her backbone as she stepped out of John's shadow. "-Aria, he really doesn't know who you are. You won't believe where he's from!"

Aria smirked at having been cut off by the much younger Asari and rounded John's frame very slightly to take in the girl who had escorted the unknown to her abode. Her flaring biotics continued to ripple over her body menacingly, Theia had the good sense to feel terrified by the power that the matriarch exuded, and was more than happy to let it show the paling of her skin and the cold sweat that lined her brow and scalp.

"So, little usurper, is it? Where is this-" Aria stepped boldly closer to John until just a few inches separated their bodies, "Thing, from?"

Of course, Theia wanted to contest being called a usurper by her dangerous superior, but debating anything would only make her situation worse. "He's not from our world."

Aria squinted. First at John, and then at Theia. "Of course not, if an alien this strong was from MY world, I'd know about it."

Once more, Theia wanted to kick herself for the situation she found herself in. She didn't one hundred percent believe that this –Master Chief- was from a different reality, but she couldn't deny that the dots fit together, and his own declaration of it was obviously filled with facts comparing where he'd come from to where he was presently.

"Which world is he from, little usurper?"

Theia paled further, and Aria's gaze burned into her menacingly. But John spoke before Theia could further bring blame upon herself, "I am not from this universe, Alien."

Theia grit her teeth at John's choice of words. Calling Aria an alien was clearly not meant to antagonise and meant to reiterate the fact of him being from a different reality, but it had Aria instantly narrowing her eyes at him, and all of her thugs present were standing with their rifles aimed squarely at John.

But if Theia thought things couldn't get worse, she was exceptionally wrong.

Aria smirked, extended a hand, and the blue biotic energy that had been menacingly dancing across her body leapt forward and swirled around John's armoured form. Theia had heard tell that Aria could crush heavy mechs with her biotics, and a wave of powerlessness washed over her.

But contrary to all expectation, John advanced. Aria wore even more surprise on her face than Theia and the thugs. But she wasn't granted any luxury in her surprise, and in moments of what should have been Aria killing this unknown, an armoured glove closed around her neck and hefted her into the air like a toy.

He hadn't been immune to the effects of her biotic hold, he had very simply overpowered it with sheer strength. Aria coughed and spluttered as his grip tightened, she kicked desperately to try and dislodge herself from his grasp but was met with only impacting an impossibly solid chest.

Her eyes watered, and her face darkened from the lack of oxygen and the biotic power she'd wielded vanished as she was reduced to instinctive powerless attempts to survive. Her hands slapped and fumbled at the fist around her neck to no avail, her legs lashed out in more attempts at kicks, striking only unyielding armour.

Her words came out in garbled rasps. And she felt a moment of utter humiliation at the thought that this was how she, the great and powerful Aria, queen of Omega, was going to go out. Her vision began to darken, and then suddenly a new uncomfortable sensation came to her in the feeling of something striking her knees. _'Going to mutilate me before I die?'_

But a moment after the morbid thought flashed through her mind's eye she realised that precious oxygen was filling her lungs, and the impossible grip around her throat was gone. Her hands found purchase on solid floor, and she realised the brief pain in her knees had been her being dropped onto the floor.

Aria's vision spun as she attempted to gulp in all the pure oxygen she could. First, she made out the armoured boots of the behemoth who'd so easily overwhelmed her, then the reality of her situation struck her. She'd been completely and utterly bested in front of her personal guard detail. But her assailant hadn't killed her, it had been a move to neutralise her as a threat.

In a civilised society or government, his actions would have made perfect sense, and made strides toward re-establishing a dialogue. Here, it just made her, the all-powerful leader look weak and vulnerable. The witnesses needed to die.

She took a deep breath, cleared her head as much as she could, and harnessed her power once more. She pounced up, away from her attacker, and toward her own men. As she did her biotics took hold of them and raised them ever so slightly from the floor before slamming them back into it.

The four Batarians and the two Asari who had been her guard detail for the day were dead from internal injuries before they could have even known that their leader had turned on them.

John swung his right leg back slightly, bracing himself for a further fight with this leader of Omega. But once more, he was treated to another Asari raising her hands in a placating gesture. She coughed as she opened her mouth to speak, her throat still feeling bruised from Johns assault.

Aria lowered her hands, took a deep breath followed by a hoarse cough, and then spoke, "Okay, you're not from around here."

Aria wasn't exactly sure if she was agreeing with the stranger's assessment of him being from a different reality or simply complying with his stance to save her own life. Both answers unnerved her.

"Why did you kill your men?"

While Aria was feeling unnerved about him, he was feeling unnerved about her nonchalance in killing her own soldiers. He understood why, he had heard of cases like this all through Human history, even within the ranks of ONI and some rare cases in the upper echelon of the UNSC. But never having witnessed something like this first hand, he needed to hear her answer.

"There are a lot of people on Omega who would strike if they knew I'd been beaten. I couldn't risk anyone talking."

Theia slunk back into John's intimidating –and protective- shadow once more; fearing Aria's weakness more than her strength. It had an edge of desperation to it that she wasn't too fond of.

"What do you want?" Aria hissed after the silence between them stretched longer than she'd like.

That was a good question. What did he want? John literally hadn't had one moment to take stock of what he could ever possibly want since right before the fall of Reach. And back then, what he had wanted was simple. He wanted to win the war with his Spartan siblings. He was born to compete and win, seeing beyond winning was impossible.

But he had won, unfortunately at the loss of almost all of his Spartans. The Human-Covenant war was over. Humanity had built itself into a great power in the time of his disappearance after the Ark and his fight with the latest and greatest threat. The Didact, an ancient enemy of Humanity, was defeated.

And in the defeat of the Didact he had been cast into an entirely new world. So what did he want?

"Who is Shepard?" John's gravely voice ground out. _'Intel first, decisions later.'_

"Commander Shepard?" Aria's brow furrowed in confusion. It was clear she couldn't make out why he, a totally alien element would either know Shepard's name or want to know anything about the man.

"He's an Alliance Soldier. Hero of the Citadel, Butcher of Torfan, first Human Spectre." Aria continued as the armoured behemoth didn't move at all in the lack of an answer.

The titles meant nothing to John. But as always, he logically and tactically analysed all the information fed to him. Shepard was a Human man, obviously associated with this Universes Human Military. He was given respective titles, despite them not meaning anything to him, they gave the man meaning in honourable distinction. The distinct point about him being the 'first' Human Spectre made it clear that Spectre was perhaps some kind of cross-species title given out at great honour, further giving John faith that this man, who was responsible for his safe retrieval into the harbour, was to be trusted –at least to an extent.

"Where is he?"

The sheer heft of authority in his voice both enraged and terrified Aria. She would be willing to bet her life on the fact that she was older than this intruder, but she wouldn't bet a single credit on thinking that she had ended more lives than him. The man radiated the power of an ancient warrior, steeped in the blood of thousands, haunted by horrors that she couldn't imagine.

She wanted to lash out at him but knew that she had no means to. He'd already proven that he could shrug off her biotics like nothing, and her physical strength was nothing compared to his. That left only armed combat, and all she had was a pistol on her hip, while he had two very large handgun style weapons on each thigh, and the butts of two rifles were visible over his shoulders.

She quickly stowed the idea of lashing out, at least for now. The next thought to spark into her mind was the polar opposite of the initial desire to kill. Could this alien, this man, whatever his origins, be shackled to her authority? To her goals? Once more, the overly ambitious thought vanished from her mind with an internal snarl.

"He's either in the luxury apartment district or in the VIP section of Afterlife, he's looking for an Ardat-Yakshi." Aria found herself giving him direction to his apparent goal before she could check herself. Another instinct simply wanted him gone, just like she had wanted Shepard gone, and just like Shepard; he wasn't a kill or buy option.

His daunting reflective golden gaze eerily turned from Aria, still crouched defensively like a cornered animal, to Theia. "Do you know those locations?"

This far less dominant of the Asari present nodded the affirmative.

"Take me to this VIP section."

Once more, Theia simply nodded, passed Aria a final shocked expression, and turned on her heel and headed back the way that she'd come ten tense minutes earlier.

Aria found the golden gaze back on her, and she instinctively knew that she was being assessed and analysed by a superior predator. She glared angrily back into the faceplate defiantely for the moment that he sized her up, the moment felt like an eternity to the pirate queen. With the assessment seemingly done, he turned and fell into step behind Theia in three impossibly large strides that cleared the steps like they hadn't been there and was soon parting the crowd with his imposing size.

John stepped up beside Theia as they exited Afterlife and took a left along a pathway that gave a scenic view on Omega's upside down skyline. Theia released a long sigh and flicked her wrists, obviously released tension from the standoff. She stopped and leant against the railing, shaking her head to herself. "Goddess, next time you want to get into a fight with a Matriarchal dictator Asari, please give me a heads up?"

The super soldier stayed silent and directed his body to face some oncoming aliens of the variety that looked like they deserved to be sculpted on the corners of a gothic church. Theia noticed his silence and looked to where he was looking. She straightened and waved a dismissive hand at the aliens.

"Don't worry about them. They're just Vorcha, they won't attack you unless there's a lot of them, probably."

John looked at them a few moments longer as they neared and then passed by him, their eyes glued to the weapons on his thighs momentarily. He fought the urge to send his gauntleted fist crashing through their exoskeletal skulls, or to grab them and chuck them off the edge of the platform.

But his discipline won out, and he turned back to Theia with a grace that would normally defy a body his size.

She realised that he would stay silent, and turned back to the view once more. "I might as well enjoy this view one last time. It is beautiful."

John looked from the back of her still very alien head to the skyline. He had done his normal tactical scan before he allowed his emotional section of his mind to visually appreciate it. It was an indeed unique and stunning view, but he couldn't help but compare it to any of the other alien views he'd been granted in the past few years. The Unyielding Hierophant, High Charity, either of the Halo's, The Ark, Requiem, even the burning skyline of Reach, all of them spectacularly more vast and vibrant than this view.

But he kept his thoughts to himself as she continued on.

"After I've shown you where you need to be, I'm gonna leg it back to Thessia. Accidents happen to people who piss Aria off."

John did register a sensation of disappointment in himself at her words. His eyes travelled back from the skyline to her head. He was responsible for supplanting her from her home; even if she'd said herself that it wasn't the most perfect place to live. He thought back to the confrontation with Aria and knew that he could have been a lot more diplomatic if he'd followed Theia's prompting.

But he was raised to be an offensive fighter. The instant a threat presented itself, and it was beatable he went on the offensive to destroy it. If not for that, he'd have died a thousand times over during the war. He checked the thought and shuffled his weight from one armoured boot to the other, with the slightest sound of his weight touching the ground that he never normally made.

Theia seemed to take the sound of his motion as prompting to move, and then straightened her posture and started toward a door next to the one that they'd entered the commons area from.

"So what's your plan?"

John regarded her for just a moment before refocusing on the opening door ahead and stepping through, taking in the scene of what appeared to be a marketplace at a glance. New species caught his eye and he instinctively tensed. A creature that had exactly the same stature as a Human male, but his head was where the similarities ended, four dark eyes surveyed the marketplace darkly.

John's eyes settled on the white logo emboldened on the creatures blue armoured chest and picking up on his silence Theia caught the direction of his faceplate. "That's a Batarian, he's a Blue Suns merc."

The explanation of this new creature didn't serve to make John any less tense, and sensing this, Theia continued. "Human's and Batarians don't get along. Batarian slavers and Pirates like raiding Human colonies in the Terminus systems."

John wasn't surprised by the information that the resident Humans of this Universe didn't get along with these specific Aliens. Every instinct he had told him not to trust this creature. He grit his teeth in frustration of his lack of understanding of the Universe that he found himself in, squared his shoulders ever so slightly, and made to answer Theia's first question.

"I'll ask that he direct me to this," He paused, recalling what Aria had called them, "Alliance, so that I may find a way back to my reality."

Theia allowed a short chortle of laughter out, "Not going to find a place to fit into Omega?"

John glanced at her again momentarily and decided that it must have been a joke. They continued on through the market without talking further, John observing the different aliens around him, with the odd Human mixed into the crowds.

Within a few minutes of navigating the market, Theia halted, and pointed to a closely shaven head visible a dozen meters from them that stood slightly taller than the rest of the crowd. "That's him!"

John quickly stepped passed Theia, his large mass parting the crowd like a boulder in a stream. A surge of happiness streamed through him at the lifetime familiar sight of a Human man with a military haircut and who walked with the posture of an experienced soldier.

The sense of ease the sight brought him was quickly halted as another Asari stepped into his path, a very clearly deliberate blocking manoeuvre. Instantly he was in combat mode, his fists clenched and his muscles tensed to throw himself at his obstacle, but seeming to sense the looming threat that he represented, the blue-skinned alien woman in her red and black skin tight body suit quickly, yet gracefully, delivered her reasoning for halting his progress.

"Whatever your needs of the Commander currently are, they must wait."

' _Not a hostile – An ally of Shepard.'_ John's military mind surmised, recalling that Aria had only just told him that Shepard was hunting something called and Ardat-Yakshi, and linking that this Asari must be an ally within that hunt. "You're with Shepard?"

She nodded an affirmative, "We are hunting a dangerous woman, he is the bait."

John didn't quite know what to make her her succinct explanation. Clearly, an Ardat-Yakshi was a woman, perhaps of some particular species, he couldn't be sure. He found himself missing fighting the Covenant and the Flood. The enemies were much clearer.

"Are you friend or foe?"

To John's left, Theia narrowed her eyes at the clearly matriarchal Asari. She'd just seen the almost alien-Human totally conquer one of the most powerful Asari in the Galaxy, so she didn't want to see this ally of Shepard make the error of labelling him a foe.

"I need to speak with the Commander," John answered neither positive nor negative.

The elder Asari hummed in response and glanced over her shoulder, "You can follow me, please do not interfere."

John didn't reply in any capacity; taking that as a positive the woman spun on her heel and merged into the crowd in the direction Shepard had gone in. John made after her a moment later, with Theia trailing slightly behind him.

Within several minutes they had cleared the market area and had turned up a flight of stairs which lead to a hallway lined with doors with the same holographic interfaces he'd seen earlier. A holographic sign marked the wall as the luxury apartment district.

John halted at the top of the stairs, seeing the Asari woman holding her hand against one of the red interfaces several doors along, an orange hologram surrounding her wrist and hand, turning in time with the red interface on the door. Suddenly a chime sounded, and the colour shifted from red to green, granting the woman access. She wasted no time in stepping through the door in a long stride.

John likewise increased the length of his stride to make it to the doorway. He stepped around the corner to bear witness to the same woman who'd just led him here being thrust against a scenic window in a swirl of blue energy, and another Asari who looked remarkably like Shepard's ally making a dash in his direction.

A momentary expression of surprise crossed the hunted woman's face before it being steeled into resolve. The same blue energy used by Aria collected around her as she charged toward John, and the door he was blocking.

The rules of this confrontation become instantly clear to him, and in a moment he took in the scene. Shepard, the Human male was making to heave the allied Asari back to her feet, she had clearly been attacked and bested by the second Asari, whom clearly intended to use violent force to make her escape: She was a threat.

She lashed her arm in John's direction, and ball of blue energy raced across the distance between them. It impacted him square in the chest with enough force to make him take the slightest step back, but like Aria, her surprise at the ineffectiveness of her attack didn't give her a single moment to prepare for his imminent retaliation.

It was far too late for her to slow her momentum, and John took advantage of that with his far greater reflex speed by stepping forward to meet her with his right arm extended, aiming for his forearm to connect with her chest. As always, his aim and choice of motion were accurate, and she hit his extended arm as though it were a steel beam and was thrown heavily to the floor.

She coughed from the force of her own momentum knocking the wind from her lungs and quickly made to roll back to her feet. The instant that she did turn her body over to seek her footing a gloved hand seized the base of her skull and lifted her off the ground with frightening ease.

"Ahhh!"

She screamed in pain as he clenched ever so slightly, and her hands reached for the hand that held her so painfully aloft. Her legs kicked back, just like Aria's had, to drive back her attacker, but to no avail.

"Who are you!"

John's eyes met Shepard's through his faceplate at the demand, and he instantly had a measure of respect for the man. He recognised a military leader when he saw one, someone similar to himself, to Lasky and Hood, even similar to Commander Palmer.

"I am an ally."

The woman whom John had followed stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, "He is someone who seeks to speak with you. But first," She took a deep inhalation of air, "I must deal with my daughter."

At this, the woman dangling from John's grasp stilled all movement, and her eyes shot wide. She'd never been placed in such a helpless position before, especially not before the one woman who'd hunt her to the ends of the Galaxy.

"I didn't choose to be this, Mother!" She snarled angrily, her grip on John's wrist tightening to no avail. "I am the genetic destiny of the Asari!"

"You will find peace in the embrace of the goddess, Morinth!" The elder Asari paced forward gracefully, blue energy encircled her fist an instant before bringing of crashing into the side of Morinth's head with enough force to turn her head far enough for the audible snap of her vertebrae, even within John's grasp.

A moment of tenseness was all there was in her body before it went limp, and John, as he had done with countless Covenant soldiers over the years, dropped the limp form to the ground without any ceremony.

"Samara, are you okay?" Shepard asked to the solemn Asari's back.

Her shoulders rose and fell in a deep intake and exhalation of breath. "What can I say? That I am glad for killing my strongest and brightest daughter? Please, let us leave this place?"

Shepard nodded, more to himself than Samara, before fixing his gaze back on the titanic man before him. "What did you need to speak to me about?"

"I require you to put me in touch with someone from your Alliance." John dictated, all military precision in his purpose.

"What for?"

"The circumstances of my being here are beyond anything in known history, I require assistance from the Humanity of this universe."

Shepard expression instantly shifted his frown one of confusion rather than anger. "Of this universe?"

At this point, Theia stepped into the doorway and made her presence known, "He's not from our reality. And I need a lift too."

"Shepard," A synthetic voice interrupted from the suddenly glowing holographic device around the Commander's wrist. "There are theories of parallel realities, it is possible." The voice explained away the brunt of Shepard's doubt.

"So I assume you're Human?" Shepard asked more cautiously, looking from boot to helmet up John's stature.

"Yes, I am a Spartan. Rank; Master Chief Petty Officer of the United Nations Space Command, acting in place of the United Government of Earth, which may now be active again." John's voice once more spoke out in precise military tone.

"Special forces?" Shepard inquired.

"Something else, Sir."

Shepard nodded, the vague answer seeming to fit well in Shepard's own visual analysis of this new presence. "Alright, both of you can follow us back to the Normandy; we'll get you both where you need to be."

John offered Shepard the same respect he offered to every officer who acted respectably, he nod in appreciation.


	2. Chapter 2

**!Authors Note!**

 **Hey creative folk!  
Sorry for the slow pace of this update! I had intended to finish this for a Christmas morning upload, but the Christmas craze hit, and then I had a swamp of work come through and blah!**

 **So as a little introductory note to explain about my writing style; I like to write in a semi-third person perspective. So each act is written from a semi third person view of whichever character I open the act with. So this means if Shepard and John are in a room of characters that Shepard knows but Chief doesn't and it's from Chief's perspective, those characters won't be referred to by name unless they've been introduced. So that's just by way of explaining why in the third and final act of this chapter John is referred to as Chief, as that act is from Shepard's perspective, and John has only introduced himself to Shepard as Master Chief so far.**

 **And as a few review responses:**

 **Species Unknown – I skimmed over my first chapter… I might have missed it, but I don't think I had him introduce himself as John, only as Master Chief. Which is something that he does commonly within the books to all almost new friendly encounters. Either way, glad you're enjoying it.**

 **Jack Whitters – Many thanks. As nice and motivating as it is receiving any positive review, it is an especially rewarding feeling when someone takes the time to write out a paragraph of their thoughts and feelings on my writing in a positive tone. Now onto the points you raised. Making John OOC, rest assured, I won't. Or at least I'll aim not to, I intend to try and translate his super-soldier capabilities into the Mass Effect universe as accurately as possible, and I'll likewise be vamping up the opposing firepower of enemies. Point #2 Accellerated evolution – I will be exploring this point! You'll see the beginning of that in this chapter. #3 – A pairing. From a biological point of view, especially with the extensive augmentations which would include pertuitary gland modification, I've always somewhat disagreed with the medically suppressed sex drive theory from Halo, especially since there are Spartan II's in Canon who have had children. But I go toward thinking the sex drive suppression is actually environmental/behavioural, but furthermore, almost similar to with Cortana, I don't see a Spartan having a romance to be so much about sexuality as it would or could be about deep personal and emotional romance and connection. I will see where that takes me, I don't have a big plan set out for this story, so I'm discovering it as I go. And I really want to explore and develop his relationships and views with and on non-humans.**

 **Apollonir – Thanks! Ironically, I only have an extremely vague plan for this. We're both discovering my story as we go :D I shan't be giving up on it, but I can't promise speedy updates(I run a growing business and am currently on a month long biz trip).**

 **Fraught With Peril**

 **Chapter Two**

 **:: Loyalty Mission or Escape Operation? ::**

Silence reigned in the white-walled room, the only sound permeating it was the thrum and whoosh of the sky cars speeding by beyond the glass that looked onto the luxurious waterways, shops, and apartment complexes.

"Hmm," The dark skinned, short haired man in his sensibly colourful Citadel Councillor robes hummed in thought after the drawn out moment of silence, "If what you're saying is true, then you're in a hell of a situation, son."

John nodded his agreement with the assessment of his situation from the recently introduced Admiral turned Councillor, David Anderson. To say that it was a 'hell of a situation' was a complete and utter understatement, but he was at least pleased in knowing his sudden being here was not threatening his life or his people, unlike all of the previous times he'd happened upon unbelievable circumstances.

Sensing that the armoured behemoth of a man wasn't going to respond, as Shepard had quickly learnt was often the way of the latest and strangest inclusion to his life, Anderson cleared his throat and continued. "Although, your timing in accidentally arriving here is luck like nothing else I've ever seen."

This did lure the gravelly voice from the warrior's helmet, "What do you mean, Sir?" John asked, suppressing a glimmer of potentially unwarranted hope, knowing that he had a long history of incredible luck –despite that being primarily in dire situations.

"The Alliance has had divisions with their only missions being to find traces of the Protheans or Reapers for the past two years, just last week I was contacted by one saying that they'd discovered an alien outpost of some sort that didn't fit the description of either Prothean or Reapers-"

Anderson halted his explanation for the briefest of moments to attempt to read the newcomer but was met with only more unmoving silence.

"-Dr. James Cutter and his team halted their attempt at exploration of the structure when none of the doors would open, not even to a mining laser."

"I'm sorry Anderson, I don't understand-"

"-Forerunner," John interrupted Shepard's confused reply to Anderson. "I would bet that this structure was built by Aliens from my reality." He explained further, to the two questioning expressions aimed at his faceplate.

"That's one hell of an assumption to make, son," Anderson slowly hummed out with his eyes squinted in thought. "What makes you so sure on so little information?"

That was something that stumped John. Years ago he'd have had no clear reason or information for that, but after years of battling in and around Forerunner creations, and witnessing the awful and amazing possibilities of their technological achievements, he was gifted with a sense of their reach.

"The Forerunners were the most advanced civilization to exist in my reality, if I accidentally got here through one of their slip space portals, then they've gotten here at some point as well," John explained. He wasn't sure if he was explaining it to himself or to the two who would help him choose his fate.

He'd made a conscious effort to steer his thinking away from his future since boarding the Normandy, as with it came a sense of succession and advancement into the future. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he had a chance to just stop and breath. There were no immediate threats, and he was in a whole new reality.

His personal commitment and sense of duty were the only things driving him to seek a way back to his own reality, and he felt an urge, a passion striking through his heart, unlike anything he'd ever felt, to seek out his remaining Spartans. Their presence would console him even in light of Cortana's sacrificial passing.

John suppressed the cringe and moment of heartache that thinking of Cortana brought to him, as he had always done of things that troubled him, and refocused his eyes onto Anderson, the Admiral who despite such a different appearance, made him think of Terrance Hood.

"So you want to investigate?" Shepard's curious tone asked of John.

John turned his faceplate to Shepard ever so slightly, as an obvious sign of acknowledgment, before turning back to Anderson as he spoke out the remainder of Shepard's withheld thoughts, "If my science team with several mining lasers can't open the door, how are you going to? Knock?"

Anderson's question managed to bring a small smile to John's lips. It affirmed to him that despite the fact that this reality had another Humanity that came from Earth, against all odds. That it was fundamentally different than his own reality. There were no Forerunners here. No flood. No Covenant. There weren't wars of genocide spanning decades, and there were no soldiers steeped in blood and war in the same way that he had been.

"I won't need to, it will open for me."

Anderson knit his brow at John's strangely simple answer and after a moment of analyzing the unmoving and impossibly confident warrior turned his confused gaze to Shepard. Shepard, likewise in his blue-trimmed Kestrel armour shrugged and turned to face the warrior properly.

"Chief, we'll investigate your structure, but we'll need some more info?" Shepard asked authoritatively, his face steeled and sure, even with being confronted by a soldier the likes of John.

The instinctive respect that John felt for the man instantly increased. Upon first meeting the Commander, John had categorized him as a good military leader, but too emotionally soft –from the way he treated Samara, all the way through boarding his ship- but he found himself trying to re-evaluate that judgment. He saw the natural charisma that Shepard possessed manifesting as his emotional care and touch with those around him.

"Understood, I will share what I can."

Shepard nodded, clearly happy with the omissive answer. He looked back to Anderson, "Could you send me the coordinates, Anderson?"

The aged Admiral nodded and sat himself back down in his seat behind his desk, reaching for his datapad. He tapped several buttons and looked to Shepard. "Done, let me know what you find?"

"Of course," Shepard nodded to Anderson in the same motion of turning toward the door from which they'd entered, John on his heels, prepared for the same stares that he'd endured on the way to the Human Embassy after the Normandy docking at the Citadel.

As expected, the moment that the two cleared the doorway out of Anderson's office, two Turians in their C-Sec patterned and coloured suits of armour had their avian eyes on the towering armoured form of John. Once more he suppressed the urge to sprint into conflict with them and dispatch them in the same way that he'd dispatch any Kig-Yar, with their similar eyes making him compare the two. Something that he'd already had to confront with the Turian aboard Shepards light Corvette.

"Easy there, these aren't hostiles."

John tore his gaze from the aliens as they marched past and looked to the back of Shepard's head. Still trying to decipher what cogs that turned within the man that equipped him as such an effective leader. But nevertheless, he was impressed that the Alliance Commander could pick up on his internal tension.

"Understood," John cited back, deciding the leave out the regular 'Sir.' He'd decided that while in this Universe that he would only fit himself into standard military doctrines in the presence of Admirals, Colonels, and Generals. But beyond that, he would remain respectful of lower ranks positions without the standard military behavioral attire.

"So would you like to keep going on where you left off?" Shepard inquired as the two reached the bottom of the short flight of stairs at the bottom of the passageway that the Human Embassy resided in and made a beeline for the open elevator.

A wave of incredulity passed through John at the casually asked question. Not since Cortana and previously Catherine Halsey had John been subjected to such comfortably casual civilian styled conversation, and especially not regarding what would have been classified information in public spaces as Shepard's question was to resume his tale of his lifetime of warfare.

It was obvious that this Universe had never seen soldiers of the likes of his Spartans before.

The momentary silence of John's thought was all the tell that Shepard needed, and he looked over his shoulder to the armoured giant, "Public spaces?"

John nodded curtly at the short hand question for why he hadn't responded straight away. And his mind instantly wandered to the next most logical thought about why Shepard even needed to ask about why he wasn't speaking of such sensitive material publically. Clearly, Shepard and his crew discussed sensitive mission intel openly in public.

"Spartans' have been trained not to disclose any possibly sensitive information publically."

Shepard nodded in understanding as he stepped into the elevator -John stepping in beside him a beat later- and he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he should adopt a slightly desensitised version of that behaviour himself with his squad. He and his followers were well aware of the dangerous factions that patrolled the streets, spied, and lied their way through politics. And the public discussions of military operations had more than once attracted unwanted media attention.

"Probably have a good thing going there," Shepard replied jokingly to the silent giant, making his joke feel more awkward and childish than it should have. He reached out and tapped to docking bay that the Normandy was currently located at, and looked forward to stepping aboard his ship again and being immersed amongst his squad and crew who were a good deal more sociable than the extra-universal human super soldier.

 **XXXXXXX Flashback – Omega System XXXXXXX**

"Set a course for the Citadel, Joker," Shepard called to his left as the four cleared the airlock. "EDI, can you please gather everyone in the briefing room?"

"Of course, Shepard," A feminine synthetic voice replied from the ceiling as Shepard set a brisk pace down the gantry away from the cockpit toward a holographic representation of the Milky Way suspended before a viewing platform and flanked by consoles and crewman.

Samara veered away from Shepard and hurried toward a door marked as the elevator, and Theia slunk closer to John as the only known thing in this new unknown environment. As he always did upon entering any unknown, John did a subtle once over the space and identified the crew manning their stations as low-level threats and likely very easily dispatched. He keyed a sensor pulse with a nudge of his chin into a receiver in his helmet, and a moment later a representation of the layout of the current deck was imposed on the top left corner of his visor.

He quickly nudged the button again to keep its function on automatic so that wherever he went on the ship, it would map it out so that he could quickly reference escape or defence points.

"I assure you, Sierra 117, that there's no need to sensor map the Normandy, I will provide all necessary map's and references upon request," The same synthetic female voice from before spoke.

John knit his brow in frustration at his oversight of not making a note of the synthetic voice likely being an AI, and at him being so accustomed to having an AI patrolling his head and suit to guard all software functions.

"That's EDI," Shepard began as they walked through a door marked as the Armoury and took a left immediately upon entering around a bench with weapons strewn across it through another door into a small passageway, before taking another quick right and into a blank room with a briefing table in the centre. "Don't worry, we're going to help you, and you can have a layout of the Normandy if you'd like?"

John first took note of the two individuals already in the briefing room. His eyes lingered on the dark skinned man with the military regulation buzz cut and black and white combat suit for barely a moment as he was instantly able to surmise him as being military of obvious human distinction to the core. It was the sable and white-skinned alien that attracted his eyes the longest.

He'd seen plenty of them milling about on Omega in his short time there, and had already tactically sized them up as best he could from the brief exposure to them. Seeing one up close, however, gave him room to take it in as best he could.

This one possessed a slim build, like the others he'd already seen, that deceptively made it look smaller than the average Human, but stood at roughly the same height. But it certainly possessed a lot less physical mass than the average Human, with its thoracic cavity being much smaller and giving way to a much more elongated abdominal structure that arched inwards towards the ribs.

The slimness of the alien's body was reflected in its arms and legs, with its legs vaguely reminiscent of a Sangheili's legs. Its eyes were large, horizontally slitted, and unrelentingly curious looking. And it possessed fleshy looking horns pointing upwards in a crescent, one of which was half missing. John doubted from the entire stature of the creature that the horns were ever meant for combative purposes, that it was some form of attractive aesthetic feature, and that the missing half of this one's horn was very likely the result of gunfire.

His almost instantaneous observation and analysis of the alien was reflected audibly within seconds.

"Ahhh Shepard! This must be reason for briefing? New squad member?" The creature asked with a momentary pause. "Not of Cerberus dossier, though! Mustn't be! All other squad members have had clear strategy of team information prior to recruitment for optimal integration and squad operation! Accidental meeting! Must be!"

John blinked in surprise at the rapid-fire sentence from the alien and looked to Shepard, a placating gesture of holding up his hands. "Woah there, Mordin. Everyone will be here in a moment-"

"Very interesting indeed! Deviation from Cerberus direction very promising indeed. Non-human species?" The now identified Mordin paused and leaned over the table toward John, his eyes squinted in thought. He nodded to himself in apparent mental affirmation, and as though on cue, the door they'd entered from opened, and a group of individuals filed in and took measured and comfortable places around the table.

They all observed John and Theia as he observed them right back. The odd mix of beings certainly made John want to know more about Shepard, it was glaringly clear that he was more –or less- than Human military. No standard Human military unit would be made up of multiple species.

That thought instantly carried forward memories of the assault on Voi alongside Thel Vadam and then the further memory of the invasion of the Ark and the strange friendship that he'd forged with the long-time nemesis. They were comrades in arms who knew each other from a background of tactics against one another and had learnt each other thoroughly through warfare, through moves and countermoves.

They were warriors reflective of one another and had learnt to respect and honour the other. A strange pang of missing the honourable Sangheili struck through John, and it explained a lot of what made up this crew.

'Desperate times call for desperate measures,' The Spartan thought to himself. But the fact that all of these species were on good diplomatic terms on a general whole was also apparent.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce two new temporary and possibly permanent squad members," Shepard announced, giving a nod to the towering newcomer in question.

John nodded back. He hadn't come aboard to join up with any cause or squad, but the possibility of never getting back to his own reality was there, and if that were the case he'd need somewhere to be and a purpose to serve.

"Non-Human?" Mordin's rapidly curious voice fired off again.

Shepard shook his head. "No, he is Human-"

"-Ahhhhh! Very interesting! Can't be Cerberus," Mordin paused and looked at the woman in the black and white leather catsuit and narrowed his eyes at her a moment before looking back and John and edging his way around the table. "Not Alliance either! Advanced armour and physical augmentations beyond current Alliance capability, and even if it were Alliance would not be on Omega by itself. Risk of capture by other factions far too high! No! Not of known space!"

Behind his visor, John half smirked half smiled in entertained interest of the clearly very intelligent creatures assessment.

Once again, Shepard intercepted Mordin and held up his hands pleadingly. "He can explain himself, okay?"

A short silence followed as Mordin checked himself and Shepard looked to John. In response, John gave the Commander a curt nod and looked across the assembled team. "You can call me Master Chief, I am a Human, but I am not from this reality."

He halted, suddenly not sure how much of himself or where he was from to share with these unknowns'. But his lack of assuredness was quickly supplemented by the dark-haired woman in the cat suit clearing her throat and speaking in a decidedly Earth-Australian accent, "If you are from a different reality, how did you get here?"

"I was thrown into a slip-space portal after combating a Forerunner in defence of Earth," He answered upon quickly deciding the range of things he would be open to discussing.

"What's a Forerun-"

"-Slip-Space portal? Means of travel across dimensions? Your reality has means of crossing dimensions?" Mordin spoke over the Australian woman, who was giving the alien a baleful glare.

That tiny action in and of itself gave John a huge amount of intel about this squad. Clearly, all of them did not personally like each other, but they were united by Shepard's leadership.

"Not exactly," John partially answered, and was greeted by silence. He decided to expand on the topic, "As far as I know, this is the first time modern day Humanity has crossed dimensions. Slip-Space is a means of crossing vast distances of normal space faster than the speed of light by entering interdimensional space."

"Faster than light travel not reliant on Mass Effect fields!" Mordin gasped excitedly. "Other species in your reality? Known space? Forerunners?"

John looked to Shepard and the rest of the squad for added thoughts or questions, upon finding none he looked back to Mordin and answered, "There are multiple known species in my reality. Formerly all but two of them belonged to an alien hegemony called the Covenant. The San'Shyuum, Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Kig-yar, Unggoy, Mgalekgolo, and Yanme'e, our first contact was violent, and followed by a thirty-year war of religious genocide against Humanity."

"A far more violent reality!" Mordin blurted free from emotional inhibition, "And known space?"

Once more, John scanned the faces present, alien and Human, and found the contrast between them and Mordin interesting . Where they were all wearing expressions of sympathy, respect, or some form of judgment, Mordin only wore curiosity.

"The UNSC had over eight hundred colonies throughout the Orion Spur before the war."

"Hang on, you mean with your advanced space travel you only colonized such a small area of the galaxy?" One of the still unidentified aliens asked through an almost birdlike mouth.

"Garrus, you're missing that he said over eight hundred! That's an enormous amount of colonies!" The woman in the cat suit countered.

"The Orion Spur is over ten thousand light years long, there is a probability of thousands of Earth-like worlds in that space alone, and all known species besides one originate from the Orion Spur," John explained, surprised by the different view of space that everyone present seemed to possess from what was standard knowledge in his reality.

"Interesting, interesting!" Mordin exclaimed excitedly, now totally abandoning his original place and pushing past Shepard to stand closer to the newcomer. "Many have theorised possibility of much greater colonization and other alien worlds if different method of travel was used!"

"So what about this other species not from the Orion Spur?" A slim Asian woman with a hooded head asked from a thoughtful posture with her right hand pinching her chin in thought.

John did yet another quick surveillance of the assembled group and found that their believing of his almost unimaginable story at the simple behest of Shepard telling of the man's regard. He tucked the thought away for later and looked to the Asian woman, "The Flood; extra-galactic origins."

"The Flood? That doesn't sound much like the others?" The Krogan asked gruffly, John identifying his species from his first encounter with the one he'd briefly fought in front of Aria.

"A sentient parasite. They were once a galaxy-consuming species before the Forerunners wiped them out," John explained to the group.

"How do you know that they were galaxy-spanning if your people only existed in the Orion Spur?" A green skinned-black eyed alien of the same stature as a Human man asked.

John frowned beneath his visor. Things had once been a lot easier and more linear to explain with Cortana present. "UNSC date 2525 Humanity makes first contact with an alien religious alliance calling themselves the Covenant on an agricultural world. The Covenant worship an extinct alien civilization called the Forerunners who one hundred thousand years ago wiped out all sentient life in the galaxy to kill the Flood. The Forerunners marked Humanity as the reclaimers of their galactic mantle, and when the Covenant discovered this using repurposed Forerunner technology their ruling class declared a religious war of genocide on us. In the year 2552 after the loss of a majority of our colonies, our primary military world is attacked and destroyed, in that year we discovered the first major Forerunner installation called Installation 04, Alpha Halo. A ringworld designed to destroy sentient life. This was where I first encountered the Flood and data on the Forerunners. I destroyed the installation and with it a Covenant fleet, and escaped back to Earth." John paused, took in a deep breath, and realised that the last time he'd spoken even close to this much at once was upon having arrived back at Earth following the harrowing events of Alpha Halo and his HIGHCOM debriefing.

Entirely dissimilarly, this audience was quietly enraptured by his recounting. HIGHCOM, despite everything, had been hugely sceptical and equally displeased. He wondered what the admiralty of the Alliance was like. Seeing so many eyes, human and alien watching and waiting for him to continue, he cleared his throat and moved onto the final part of the simplified recapping.

"Not long after arriving at Earth, it was discovered by a Covenant fleet and was attacked. In the battle that crushed the small Covenant task force, one ship carrying one of their religious Hierarchs escaped, a ship I was aboard managed to follow it through Slip-Space to discovering a second Halo Installation. It was aboard this Halo that I, and an enemy Sangheili, discovered something called a Gravemind; a Flood hivemind. During the battling of Installation 05, the Covenant alliance between the San'Shyuum and the Sangheili is broken, and the ring is activated before being halted. The Sangheili and Humanity form an alliance and pursue the remaining Covenant forces back to Earth and through a slip space portal to another Forerunner Installation known as the Ark, located beyond the edge of the galaxy to escape the effects of the Halo's. The war ended on the Ark with the destruction of the Covenant, their holy city, and the Flood. In escaping, I was stranded and went into cryo for four years until the discovery of a Forerunner shield world and the awakening of a Forerunner called the Ur-Didact. After battling through Requiem and his eventual attack on Earth I was able to stop him and fell into the slip-space portal that brought me here."

There was a full minute of contemplative silence that followed, leaving John with the mental room to wonder what Cortana, Halsey, or any of his Spartans would say to him speaking so much at once to strangers.

"By the goddess, no war in recorded Council history compares to that," Samara wondered aloud, an expression of sadness folding her otherwise flawless blue skin.

"And why the fuck were you in the middle of all that shit?" The petite and heavily tattooed bald woman asked slanderously.

Looking past her insubordinate language, and what looked to be gang tattoos marking her shoulders, John answered the only thing he thought to be close to true, "Because I'm a Spartan."

His honest thought was a good deal different and even more lacking. He had no idea. He had been told by Catherine in his youth that he was special, unlike even the other Spartans. He had grown into the ultimate warrior amongst their ranks, he had endured where none others had and had even been 'evolved,' by the Librarian.

John had no way of knowing if he was special or not, he simply did what his blood, his humanity, told him to do.

"The fuck's a Spartan?" The brash voice of the bald woman demanded.

"A super soldier?"

John looked at the source of the follow-up question; a clearly female being with a cloudy glass faceplate. "That would not be an inaccurate summary. Recruited as a child, raised to be the best of the best, physical augmentations and armour."

"That's why you're only Master Chief rank?" The dark skinned man in the black and white suit asked, putting the moniker and the rank together.

John had likewise never thought much of his rank, other than the simple purpose it served toward non-Spartan soldiers, but he had always been aware of that fact. "Yes, all Spartan II's are conscripts."

"Very, very, very interesting!" Mordin declared after his unusually long silence. "Inference with your presence and apparent success rate that the original program created foundation technology for your class, and that following classes are not as…." He halted and grasped his chin in momentary thought, "….Heavy. Specialised?"

Mordin's line of thought and questioning was bringing John to the edge of what he was comfortable talking about, but it did nudge his own candidness and curiosity of the topic. Avery Johnson had been a Spartan I, and had been a phenomenal soldier and leader, but not close to the level of a Spartan II in terms of physical or even mental capability.

He'd never met a Spartan III, but in his brief time of peacefulness after the first Halo incident, Cortana had hacked a whole bunch of HIGHCOM data, as had been one of her habits, and had filled him in on what she could find of them. Disposable child-super-soldiers. The reports mentioned that they were unstable in over eighty percent of cases. But he'd been informed that several III's had been active on Reach and were partly responsible for the success of Blue Team. But again, their track record spoke for themselves in comparison to the II's.

And he had been exposed to the IV's very recently and was somewhat aghast at their almost total lack of typical Spartan decorum. Many of them, or all of them, were excellent soldiers, all with high success rates –for normal soldiers- all augmented and improved, but not approaching the level of the II's again.

Sarah Palmer, despite her attitude which he wasn't fond of, was one of the most tested and successful of them. John briefly wondered how she'd have fared had she been a bit older and recruited with the II's.

"You're not far from wrong," John finally decided to answer, to his perception of time his pause having been a long one, but in reality, his silence had only been for but a moment.

"So, what's he capable of? And who's she?" An aged and scarred man with a rasping British accent asked with the unrefined jab of an arthritic finger.

At the clear prompting to talk, Theia cleared her throat, "My name is Theia Tanis, I was the one who found him and he kind of attacked Aria after I brought him to her, so I'm just sort of being swept up in all this… Now I'm on a Spectre's ship!"

At the Asari's flustered answer, the bald woman snorted in brash sounding laughter with a predatory smile. "So what? Aria beat him down, and you both ran to find Shepard, King of the boy scouts?"

Theia frowned and looked from the criminal looking woman to the super soldier, trying to work out how she could make such an inaccurate assessment. "He killed one of her Krogan guards and beat her, she told us where to go to find Shepard so that Chief could contact the Alliance."

"You mean so that she didn't have to deal with him," the avian alien scoffed.

"Are you saying that he bested Aria T'loak in single combat?" The green skinned-black eyed alien followed up instantly.

"She represented a threat, I neutralized her ability to threaten me."

Another short silence settled before being broken by the gruff rumbling laughter of the Krogan, "Heh heh heh, another freak for the Shepard grinder!"

"Shepard, what are we going to do with him?" The woman in her slim cat suit asked.

"Simple, Chief wants to speak with Alliance command, and Theia just wants to get away from Omega. We'll go to the Citadel and work it out from there." Shepard answered coolly.

A range of nods and calm expressions answered Shepard's proposal and gave John more insight into this strange assortment of aliens that made up the crew of the Normandy.

 **XXXX Return to Present – Noveria XXXX**

Shepard half jogged-half marched down the gantry from the command station to the cockpit, Jokers voice urging him from the intercom, "This is the SSV Normandy, Noveria Command, we have a Council Spectre aboard for Council business."

To say that Shepard had been surprised when he'd checked Anderson's coordinates and finding them to place the mysterious alien structure at the exact southern pole of Noveria would have been an understatement. Key locations from the hunt for Saren kept popping up, and it made it all seem like more than simple coincidence.

"SSV Normandy, you are cleared to enter Noveria space, please check in at Port Hanshan for security checks."

Shepard halted behind Joker's chair in time to hear the Noverian officer's response. Joker made to speak again, but Shepard subtly waved off the action and activated his Omni-tool, "Hanshan security, this is Council Spectre Shepard, we don't have any business in port, we're here for a polar seismic survey."

A brief moment of silence followed his smooth bending of the truth before the officer replied. "Understood, Shepard, have a safe stay on Noveria."

"God I hate this place," Joker mumbled the moment that the feed cut, his fingers still dancing across the controls despite his gripe.

Acting in favour of mission efficiency, Shepard decided not to entertain Joker's attitude about the matter, "Tell me about it after. I want you to set us down right on top of Anderson's coordinates."

"Aye aye," Joker heaved out around a long sigh. "Have fun with robot man!"

Shepard ignored the insubordinate jab at both the mission and their latest addition to the crew, and turned on his heel and made for the elevator. He dodged around the crew manning the auxiliary stations, purposefully looked away from Kelly's bright and questioning gaze that spoke of her exceeding curiosity to talk with 'robot man,' and quickly stepped into the cabin before keying the hanger bay.

His hands did their usual pre-mission pat down, from his shoulders to his knees, checking that all of his kestrel armour plates were correctly strapped and buckled together for optimal movement and protection. His check finished as the door slid open, revealing the Chief holding a Mattock rifle in obvious inspection, with Jacob opposite him, explaining the details of the foundation for all of their small arms.

"And this port here is where you slot in new thermal clips-" Jacob made to explain, being cut off by the all-business tone from the super soldier.

"-Are the internal mass effect fields changeable?"

Shepard arrived to hear the Chief interrupting his quartermaster.

"How exactly do you mean?" Jacob asked back curiously, a glint of excitement in his eye from having given the weapons strapped to the super-soldiers body a previous visual once over and now hearing his own input on weaponry.

"You say that the ammunition used by all regular small arms, like this rifle, comes from a metal block internally, and the internal mass effect fields shave off small chunks to use as projectiles," The Chief lead with a deliberate nod of his still helmeted head to Jacob.

Jacob nodded back, taking it as meaning to affirm his assessment so far.

"So can that mass effect field that shaves off the projectiles be changed, to be able to increase the size and impact force of the round?"

Jacob cupped his chin in thought and nodded slowly. "Technically I'd say yes, but as I understand it, those modifications are very hard to make once the entire unit has been assembled."

"These weapons can't be dissembled for modifications?" Chief asked his voice noticeably surprised.

Something Shepard took mental note of for reference for the kind of world the newcomer came from; extremely heavily militarized. "How do yours work?" He interjected the conversation, feeling the slight rumble in the hull as a sign that they were nearing their target and decelerating.

The Chief seemed to take the same note with a quick look toward the hanger loading bay doors before directing his golden gaze back to Shepard and Jacob. His hand first selected the silver weapon off his left thigh and grasped its grip, pointing it at the floor.

"Forerunner bolt shot, a close quarters sidearm weapon. Capable of firing single shots, three shot bursts, and charged shotgun-like shots." His thumb traveled a little higher on the grip and triggered a sensor, the weapon suddenly snapped apart, each component now suspended around the handle and revealing a glowing interior piece. "That's the magazine, it's a battery filled with charged ionized particles, it fires hard light projectiles."

His thumb drifted off the sensor, and the weapon snapped back together, in a fluid movement it was once more on his thigh plate, and he'd retrieved the very human looking oversized pistol in one swift motion. "M6H2 Personal defence weapon, standard issue UNSC magnum fires 12.7 x 40mm semi-armour piercing high explosive rounds, can also fire explosive rounds. Magazine fed," He explained as he thumbed a release and the magazine slid from the grip and his left hand snatched it from the air, "Able to be disassembled and modified."

Shepard looked at Jacob and wasn't surprised to see an excited look in his eyes. He was no quartermaster, or weapons expert, beyond being skilled at using most of them on the battlefield, but it didn't take much for it to be clear that the Chiefs weapons packed much more of a punch than anything he'd ever touched.

Like the first weapon, the second was placed back where it'd come from fluidly, and an armoured glove reached over the bulky armour and retrieved a long rifle, similar in aesthetic design to the first pistol. Like the first Forerunner pistol, upon thumbing of a sensor, its structure exploded.

"Forerunner light rifle also fires hard light rounds. Battery magazine rechargeable with proper charging station, it's a marksman rifle capable of only firing single shots. It doesn't have an optical scope, it has a light sensor camera scope which interfaces with HUDs."

At this, Jacob couldn't resist his child-like military-bred fascination and imploringly held his open palms out. The Spartan halted and considered the gesture for a moment before complying, and releasing the sensor that had expanded the weapon, and placed it into the quartermaster's hands.

As Jacob started his personal inspected of the weapon, Chief retrieved the other rifle from his back butt first. Once more, Shepard and Jacob were treated to another very Human design. "BR85HB Standard UNSC battle rifle, regularly fires three round bursts, can be modified to single shots. Equipped with an optical scope that can also interface with HUDs, magazine fed with 36 9.5 x 40mm rounds with a maximum effective range of one kilometre."

Seeming to be done with his inspection, Jacob handed the light rifle back to the Chief as he fixed his battle rifle to his back once more, the light rifle following moments after.

"I'm assuming your suit also has shields as well? Considering the kind of damage those things would deal," Shepard queried.

"Yes, my shielding technology makes use of energized particles."

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more than that, Shepard nodded before pushing his N7 helmet over his head. Jacob likewise attached a mask to his face that extended around his head and followed in his Commanders wake as they approached the loading bay door.

"Chief, I expect you to take point on this, we're expecting it to be minus seventeen degrees Celsius out there; so suits, helmets, gloves and everything stays on tight!" Shepard dictated in his usual short mission brief he gave his chosen squad.

In this case, he'd have normally preferred to bring an element like Grunt or Thane, both operators especially physically honed, in the event the Chief went haywire and had to be subdued. But from the recounting of Theia previously about how he had both easily overpowered and killed a Krogan hand picked by Aria and then likewise easily bested Aria, something told Shepard that physical force wasn't going to be the best way to win over this displaced warrior.

Jacob, Miranda, and Mordin had all been the best options. Mordin had instantly identified himself to Chief as a peaceful element whose only interest in him was scientific; but Shepard still slightly feared Chief distrusting Mordin simply for the fact that he was an alien, which he certainly couldn't blame him for given his recounting of his life and war against genocidal aliens.

Miranda had been the next choice, but her attempts at trying to speak up over other strong individuals to maintain an image of control during the briefing had earned her what Shepard thought was a disapproving look from Chief's impassive golden gaze.

So the final, and best option, was Jacob. His only input during the briefing had been objective curiosity, and following it he'd approached the super-soldier with none of the apprehensiveness that most of the other crew members showed, and there was an instant military bond in how they conversed in learning about the others combat systems.

"Opening bay doors," Jokers' voice announced via the intercom.

True to his word, the large doors hissed and slid open, allowing a gust of icy and snow-laden air to roar into the cargo hold. In contrast to Shepard and Jacob both checking themselves against the howling wind that entered, Chief retrieved his battle rifle from his back, shouldered it, and marched down the ramp.

Jacob passed Shepard a glance for permission to essentially put himself under someone else's lead. Shepard gave a single nod, and the two proceeded in Chiefs wake into the blizzard outside.

It took Shepard's visor a moment to adjust to the light glare being reflected from the snow, but when it did he instantly located Chief striding toward a ten-meter wide circular hole in the icy ground with a twenty-meter class mining laser suspended in a tripod above.

He drew in a breath as he forced himself to jog against the roaring wind which was picking up surface snow, to catch up to the temporary squad leader who showed absolutely no problem in resisting the elements that were reducing himself and Jacob to less than half their normal walking pace.

Both he and Jacob caught up to the super soldier waiting impassively at the declining opening of the mining lasers work. "You okay?"

Shepard wanted to laugh at the flatness of Chief's deep tone. Again pointing out that this super soldier had very little experience with soldiers not as physically capable as himself. "We're good," Shepard opted to reply with as he caught his breath.

Chief's helmet gave them both a single nod before he turned to face into the hole that descended into the ice shelf at a forty-five-degree angle. "Comms check, ping reads green."

A little green light pinged in the top right of Shepard's HUD, and he saw the same light ping through Jacob's clear faceplate, and it wanted to make him kick himself for the fact that not once had he ever performed a comms check with his squad, and yet this new element did it as second nature.

He wondered what Anderson would be thinking of he were witnessing the Chief in command and action, and silently thanked that his hard suit's computer recorded everything unless intentionally turned off.

"Reading green," Both Shepard and Jacob recited at the same time.

Chief seemed satisfied with their response, and a light to properly illuminate the already semi-lit tunnel flashed on from the sides of his helmet before he began to proceed. Shepard turned his head to look back at the silhouette of the Normandy only thirty meters away. He looked for just a moment before turning and stepping into the tunnel and shouldering his mattock and getting as far to Chiefs left as possible to provide a covering position.

The tunnel proved to be very short, as hardly twenty seconds later the three skipped off the shelf at the end and landed on a silver-white metallic surface. Shepard edged around the Chief and looked to the six-meter tall doors that the platform lead to a dozen paces away.

Next, his eye found the second ten-meter class mining laser that the Alliance science team had discarded after obvious ineffectiveness, and then he looked back to the Chief, "These Forerunners were pretty big?"

The golden visor looked up and down the door and then back to Shepard, "No, not that big. The largest I know of was three and a half meters tall, they built on a grand scale."

It didn't take Shepard much to figure that this tallest one Chief knew of was this Didact he'd spoken of, and it resonated in his core that this man, despite his augmentations and armour, had faced up against such a physically massive and hyper-advanced foe without batting an eye.

More and more he found himself sympathetically hoping that there was no way for the Chief to return to his reality, so that he could be made an ally.

"How do we get in?" Jacob asked, cautiously approaching the door and releasing his left hand from the grip of his Geth shotgun and sliding it across the hexagonally patterned smooth silver surface.

Chief didn't answer verbally. Instead, he walked up beside Jacob and reflected his motion of placing his left hand against the surface. Nothing happened for a moment, and then a curtain of fine ice crystal fell from the door as with the sound of blades shearing one another it shot into the walls of the small open space they were in.

The room beyond was massive and lined with glowing lines that wrapped around the spherical space. "A typical Forerunner control room…" Chief wondered aloud as he cradled his rifle more casually and made his way along the platform that jutted out over open space until it ended with a panel in the centre of the room, a slowly spinning map of the galaxy suspended above it.

"You're not saying that they have those Halo things in this reality too, are you?" Shepard demanded at the recalling of the Chief's harrowing story.

The man didn't respond verbally again and gave the simple shrug of his shoulders as he made his way further along the platform until he was mere meters from the console.

Getting closer, Shepard identified two basketball sized blue-lit globes, comprised of hexagonal shapes, side by side in the centre of the console. The rest of the console was a myriad of small screens with lines darting across them.

Before he was able to begin to make heads or tails of the console, Chief returned his rifle to the magnetic clamp on his back and fluidly reached out to the orbs. The blue hexagonal interface spun as his fingers neared and then halted suddenly, Chief took that moment to settle his hands onto the orbs.

The Chief examined the orbs for a moment before slightly twisting his wrists until the galaxy map disappeared to be replaced by seven lines of fluctuating waves.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, calling any UNSC vessels. I have been stranded in an alternate reality through a Forerunner portal, requesting retrieval?" The seven waves rippled in response to the Chief speaking, urging him to continue, "UNSC Infinity do you read? This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117 calling for retrieval and assistance. I believe this station is generating a slip-space anomaly like the one that brought me here."

The lines waved again and shifted through the colour spectrum before returning to their normal ghostly white.

Shepard could sense the Chiefs feeling of hopelessness, and as though on cue, his hands twisted back inwards and the galaxy map reformed in front of them.

"Reclaimer! From where have you come?" An icy voice hissed from nowhere, both quiet and loud, drawing two suspicious eyes toward the ceiling of the room, while the Chief's golden gaze fixated on the slowly rotating galaxy map.

"Identify?" Chief barked out.

"I am 3992 Reverent Solitude, Metarch class Ancilla of this Builder installation."

At the beginnings of the conversation, Shepard and Jacob closed ranks and looked to the Master Chief, astonished at his comfortableness speaking with an unseen AI.

"What is this installation?"

"Formerly the flagship of a Builder fleet tasked with construction of shield worlds. After attempting to escape from a Flood fleet of tens of thousands we discovered a slip-space anomaly and arrived in this separate reality. The ship was cannibalised to build this structure after major equipment failure to attempt to create a portal back to our reality." Solitude explained in long hissing words that carried thousands of years with of pain within each syllable.

Chief looked over his shoulder to his two current comrades, and nodded them forward, before looking back to the galaxy map. "And the surviving Forerunners made it back?"

"No, I assume that they have all perished," Solitude rasped out, its tone dropping several decibels in its pain. "We arrived here one hundred thousand years ago and discovered that there was a great war taking place. Sentient organic AI were harvesting all life in the galaxy methodically, we decided to avoid detection and avoided all of their Mass Relays. We monitored the ebbs and flows of slip-space dimensions for thousands of years until the end of the machines' harvest and their retreat to the edge of the galaxy-"

"You've seen the Reapers!" Shepard called out, horrified and amazed at the simplicity of this discovery.

There were no eyes, nor any physical presence, but the air in the room felt as though it shifted and unseeable attention was focused onto Shepard. "Yes, I watched them during their next harvest fifty thousand years ago as well, this harvest is overdue thanks to your efforts."

Strangely similar to how Shepard couldn't see any physical expression in the non-physical AI, he felt the Chiefs look of respect through the unfeeling glass that separated him from the world. Beyond that, he stored the possibility of either transporting this AI to the Citadel or bringing the Council to it to verify the Reapers for later.

"-We discovered another anomaly in slip-space around this world, so the ship was turned into this structure. The portal failed, instead, it was repurposed into a slip-space communications array to send a signal back to our reality. We believe that it worked, and we sent thousands of messages, but no Forerunners ever came to take us back. We required more functional Builder Slip-space technology to stabilise a portal. Forty-eight thousand years ago the remaining crew removed their armour and left to wander the surface."

"You're saying that I just sent a message back to our reality?" Chief asked slowly, trepidation clear in his voice.

Shepard looked from the Chief to the holographic display and back and put two and two together. These Forerunners were hyper advanced, and if even they dared not purposely venture into this reality, then what place did uninformed less advanced Humans have doing it.

The infinitesimal amount of angst in the Chief's voice was clear. He was a man of duty, of honour, and his service to his cause always came first. He feared that he'd just cast out a lure to drag his UNSC into this reality with no way back.

"Yes," Solitude warbled solemnly. "We discovered that the anomalies in slip-space are impossibly rare, our attempt at creating a portal managed to stabilise one of them in its location static to this dimension, but we didn't have the power to manipulate it to allow return physical travel, only data can make it through from our side."

The Chiefs head dropped to face the console, and a silence stretched through the vast empty space for a minute before he looked back up, his hands twisting as they had previously and the wavelengths returning. "This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117!" He started with an authority laden tone. "All UNSC assets, disregard my previous message! There is no way back from here for non-Forerunner assets."

Shepard stepped forward and made to place a hand on the Chief's head height shoulder, he met resistance before actually making contact, and his eyes widened in surprise at the invisible barrier that separated them. Definitely a more protective form of shielding than the mass effect utilised kinetic barriers that he and all Council races used.

"You're welcome in the Alliance, and in my crew, whatever happens," Shepard offered in an attempt at comforting the solemn warrior.

The Chief turned from the console, his hands maintaining their grip of the orbs, to Shepard. Through Shepards dark tinted slitted visor and the Chiefs golden reflective faceplate their eyes managed to recognise a good leader in the other. The Chief gave Shepard a short nod, then passed a similar nod to Jacob before again looking to the galaxy map.

"Give me all of the intel that you have on this galaxy, Solitude?"

The Galaxy expanded in the air in front of them, and a wave of energy swept along the spiral arms, leaving in their wake a web of glowing red dots. Several hundred of million red dots shifted to green across the galaxy, prompting Jacob to step forward and point at the map.

"Are they all Mass Relays?" He asked in astonishment at the sheer volume of the red ones.

"Yes," Solitude replied in a long hiss. "The core of all space and warfare technology in this galaxy relies on mass effect science, using an element called Element Zero, not recorded in our reality," He began to explain, clearly toward the Chief. "This element exerts mass onto slip-space as well and enhances transit times. These Mass Relays," At Solitudes announcement of the Relays both the green and red lit ones pulsed.

"These Mass Relays seem to have been built by these Reapers millions of years ago to create a network of faster than light travel around the galaxy to control the growth of organic species. They function by using a dense element zero core activated by electromagnetic energy and creating a corridor of mass-free space-time between various Relays. When we arrived during one of the Reapers' cycles the races had only activated four hundred Relays, like this cycle, we theorized that must be the standard amount activated per fifty thousand years from the roughly one million total-"

"You've been surveying and drawing data the entire time you've been here?" Shepard asked with an awe-filled voice.

Yet again an invisible presence focused on him for a micro-second with a short chilling answer, "Of course!" And almost instantly the entities focus was back on the Chief, and the ice left the air. "There are no species from our reality in this one, besides Humans. Their origins in this reality are different to yours, Reclaimer."

The Chief tilted his helmet slightly in acknowledgment, "I'm aware of the history of Ancient Humanity." It wasn't a full truth, but neither was it bending it. He had always had a habit of delving into any Forerunner consoles whenever and wherever he found them. His knowledge of the history of the galaxy, of the Forerunners, the Flood, and Humanity had been enriched by his habit. But his true depth of knowledge was only just awakening in the form of flashes of memory, not his own he had when he slept, surely a result of the Librarian 'accelerating' his evolution.

"So you have claimed the mantle?" Solitude rasped, a glimmer of hope present in his chilling voice.

The Chief answered non-verbally with a small shake of his head, and Solitude took that as prompting to continue recounting his intel.

"On the two complete cycles of the Reapers that I have witnessed, it would be apparent that their harvest of organic species is to preserve that species in the form of a Reaper. Observing them in combat against the species of this galaxy made it clear that they are vastly superior in armour and firepower, but we believe our ship could have bested them. The Humanity of this galaxy are also a very new to the galactic stage, with only around thirty official Systems Alliance colonies spread across-"

"You monitor the Systems Alliance?" Jacob interrupted with wide eyes.

Like it did when Shepard spoke, the presence in the room turned cold as Solitude turned its invisible attention to the young former Alliance soldier turned Cerberus quartermaster. "I monitor everything!" Its voice called balefully, making it apparent that it did not enjoy its immortal task.

"The Systems Alliance, like all of the other races in all of the cycles, colonises worlds close to Mass Relays, forgoing thousands of fertile and resource-rich worlds, they live by the design of the Reapers." Solitude concluded with an air of finality to his cold and hollow tone.

Chief turned his head to glance back at Shepard, observing the range of well-hidden expressions pulling on his features. In the short trip from the Citadel to Noveria, he had read up very briefly about Commander Shepard. He was a dutiful soldier of Humanity, and just like his own history, he would do whatever it took to protect innocent lives.

"Solitude, I need all of your recorded data?" Chief asked slowly as he resolved on his path forward.


	3. Chapter 3

**Super late update!  
Sorry for the ages long wait folks.  
I had to go away for Jan for a business turned family reunion trip which turned out horrible and vexing, and then I came home having missed my busiest month of work with a damn boatload of work to catch up on D: I have only just gotten back into writing, so if anything feels a little "off" I do apologise. **

**I have also created a scale chart as accurately as I could off a few references I found on Garus and Grunt, I have uploaded a pic onto DeviantArt. If you go on there and Search: LOXTONA01MG  
You should find a graphic I scaled together for reference in my profile/gallery.**

 **A few review responses:**

 **Species Unknown – I found it! You were correct. I have fixed that up now**

 **Guest reviewer – I will probably be including a geas thing, but not a strict form of it like Born Stellar. Something a little bit more broad spectrum, like key memory points from Ancient Humanity from a range of individuals. I'll see where I go with that though. And I agree about the age thing. An ultra physically advanced super soldier from the distant future who has spent a lot of time in cryo shouldn't look old. Fear not!  
And not sure if it's the same reviewer… But I don't believe I am depicting Chief as too open. In comparison to only the previous games, I'd say yes to that. But the other canon always described him as being quite a bit more open. Not a social fella, but open in his ability to communicate and feel all the same. Similar to how they've finally decided to bring more of his personal humanity out in Halo 5.**

 **PocketDuelMonsters – I actually wanted to make a point of leaving Cortana directly out of this story. Because of the direction of Halo 5, which I will include in little ways in this, and big ways later on, but Cortana herself won't make an appearance.**

 **Jack Whitters – Thanks! And yes a bunch of my Chapters will in a sense be "plot rushed," just because I don't want to spend too long writing this amongst my crazy work schedule, and I really do enjoy writing so I at least want to give it some time, as well as also working on my own original sci-fi novel whilst fan boy'ing over other sci-fi work like Halo and Mass Effect.  
And I definitely don't disagree with your points, but I don't 100% agree with them either. It is something that I want to proceed with without a clear idea of where I want to take it, and construct the evolution of it in a natural feeling way. That's the hope at least. **

**Fraught With Peril**

 **Chapter Three**

 **:: Know You Allies ::**

The rough, calloused pads of a thumb and forefinger overzealously pinched one of the latest stress lines to form on the smooth semi-tanned distinctly human forehead. The pinch sent a tiny strike of pain through Shepard, but it wasn't enough to draw him from his hunched position over his desk within the dimly lit confines of his cabin.

Life was never simple, he'd both dictated to himself and been dictated too, a great many times through his still relatively young age. And in no way did he ever want to hold cards up against anyone saying that to compare, but he couldn't help but feel that the 'life is never simple' mantra was true to a whole other level for him.

Not long after he'd first recruited Mordin and Garrus for his Cerberus funded suicide-themed mission to take down the Collectors, he'd been called to assist Garrus in a personal mission. Garrus was more than just an effective member of the team, he was a friend who had proven his loyalty and strong principles all the way through the hunt for Saren.

So Shepard had readily agreed to help him. But the results in clearing the way for Garrus to avenge his former team by way of killing Sidonis had been entirely unexpected. The Turian's commitment to Shepard and his cause had increased tenfold.

Shepard had revelled in the incredible boost Garrus's invigorated attitude had given to crew and squad morale, but it had also opened another door in the form of one by one each squad member opening up about an issue that plagued them that he could help them with.

He appreciated that completing these missions with his squad let him get to know them more, let them trust him more, and as a whole, the entire squad benefited from going the extra mile to truly earn their loyalty beyond a pay day or principled call. Over time this had become a normal system within his life.

Between personal discussions with his squad and crew, he would find and take small missions to top up resources or even to simply find intel. He would go on missions to earn his squad's full loyalty, and he'd manage to fit in chasing down leads and details on the Collectors while simultaneously bit by bit upgrading the Normandy's offensive capabilities.

None of that was easy or simple, but it had become the norm and was simple in that regard. The introduction of his latest find threw a spanner in the works of what was simple.

Samara's mission had been the last mission he'd needed to do before he could announce that they were ready to head off to the derelict Reaper, find the IFF, and assault the Collector base. But as though fate were both testing and gifting him, the Master Chief arrived.

A man who carried as much authority in his presence as any Admiral he had ever met, who despite his Humanity, was more alien than anything he'd ever met short of a Reaper. Whose very reflection of his self was more mysterious than even Kasumi, who made a point in hiding her identity, whereas the Master Chief did it as second nature.

Though Shepard could understand that at least partly by way of the Chief's own explanation of his background –At least the vagaries he was comfortable sharing that left a lot of messages to read between the lines.

He was a type of super-soldier called a Spartan, and Shepard had decided from the description Theia gave of Chief killing Aria's Krogan bodyguard and then so easily besting her, that super-soldier truly was an accurate term. As a super-soldier, Chief had been raised from his early youth to be more than a weapon of war. He and his kind had been the shield and spear for the UNSC that they served.

They had been militarised completely in their functionality, and their original intent was to stay undetected, and their identities were confidential. Clearly, years of warfare had made him wary of sharing his name, and even more wary of removing his helmet or suit.

And from the brief recapping of his history, Shepard could tell that even amongst his own kind, the Chief was special. No man could face the extremes that he had and come out triumphant and in one piece.

Shepard jolted in his seat in surprise when a chime sounded, and a green light blinked on his console in front of him. He instinctively reached forward tapped the blinking light, and Miranda's deceptively calm expression filled the monitor. _'Just on time,'_ Shepard mused to himself jokingly.

But he certainly would have been pained to admit that Miranda's hyper-control and organisation complex didn't have its uses.

"Shepard, I've been wanting to discuss the Master Chief with you," She announced in her usual upfront and all business attitude.

"Yes, he is a matter that I've been thinking over," Shepard responded with a reluctant nod. He was woe to admit that such a potentially powerful asset was presenting such a hiccup in the order of their missions.

"He is a complete unknown! This could cause hell with the squad's cohesion!"

And there is was; the part that Shepard knew would come out sooner rather than later. He recalled briefly that impassive yet telling moment than needed longer look that Chief had given Miranda near the end of his initial briefing. His fingers found his temples just as his patience found its end, his voice coming out harsher than intended, "You mean the kind of hell that your abrasiveness has caused, Miranda?"

The woman on the other end of the screen pursed her lips and frowned, she made to speak, but then the expression repeated itself as an angry glint in her eyes grew a little brighter.

Shepard quickly ran damage control as he mentally chided himself for letting the stresses he was under culminate in snapping at any of his crew. "Sorry, Miranda, I didn't mean it like that…" He explained, shaking his head to further express his regret at the miniature outburst that could undo months of personal progress with Miranda and her fragile yet powerful psyche. "I agree that he is an unknown, but not a total one."

"Not a total one, Shepard?" Miranda answered with a very noticeable quirk of her left eyebrow, her expression quickly shifting back to what it had been before Shepard had snapped at her.

"No, he's not. He's Human-"

"-Human!" The Cerberus agent interrupted incredulously. "How Human? This man is beyond anything I've- You've- ever met! He killed a Krogan with a punch! He beat Aria T'loak in an instant!"

Shepard suppressed his frown turned grimace, barely, and nodded slowly. This kind of situation was vastly different to waking up Grunt. There was inherent risk in waking the pure Krogan. But this man, with so few words, actions, and in so little time, had proven himself far more dangerous and unknowable than any Krogan.

"Miranda, he's a Human. He's lost, He promised to help me, to help us all." Shepard answered as slowly as possible to drive the point home and to try and engage Miranda in recalling the moment the evening prior when they'd come back aboard the Normandy after the relative failure within the Forerunner control room.

"He might have been just trying to win your trust, Shepard, he-"

"-No, Miranda," He interrupted again, "No soldier that capable and driven goes to such a ridiculous length to win someone's trust. He is who he says he is, and he has won my trust, at least partly. He didn't have to ask that Forerunner AI for the intel that would help us, but he did!"

"Shepard!" Miranda snapped out his name before catching her anger and drawing in a calming breath. "Commander, what would you suggest then?"

Shepard caught his premature retort in this throat, having expected Miranda to argue further, and chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment in thought, stacking up the sequence of events that needed to be filled, thinking of the very near end goal of taking down the Collectors.

"We need to give the crew a chance to get to know him, we'll go to Illium and get everyone together-"

Miranda's laughed answer cut off Shepard's words, "-A party? You want to have a party? With some kind of war machine super soldier?"

Shepard's first mental response was a flare of anger at Miranda's insubordinate attitude. For a woman from such a serious background trusted with such responsibility, and genetically perfect to boot, she had constantly displayed her inherent ability to disrespect those around her; it was the occasional outward act of compassion and trust that saved her from his and the crew's ire.

"No, Miranda," He began slowly, invisibly suppressing his anger, "We'll show him around the trade floor, maybe pull up some of Officer Dara's logs into Eclipse and take him on some raids, so everyone gets a chance to see him in action and talk with him."

The Cerberus agent pursed her lips and her brows knitted together. Shepard was well aware of that expression too. She'd jumped to a demeaning conclusion, and had been schooled in the matter through him having taken the higher ground; so now she was mentally kicking herself for her error.

"That's a good idea…" Miranda slowly conceded with apologetic eyes and a nod. "I'll go tell Joker to set a course, get some rest, you look like you need it!"

The screen snapped to black and then shifted back to his intel reports scrolling across his screen. Conversations with Miranda had a habit of putting him on edge, she tested his ability to command through positive influence constantly, but he was always rewarded with her trying to go above and beyond for his efforts.

 **XXX Normandy Hanger Bay – Illium XXX**

John's mind was delving into a foggy realm of imagination and memory. Voices called to him, Cortana's, Linda's, Fred's, Kelly's, Mendez's, Halsey's and other's that were distant and unknown; "JOHN! Come home! Help Me! Do it! Rise, warrior!"

He felt his heart ache within the vivid dream state recollection of events in rapid succession. Cortana and Halsey's voices blended together in calling for him to return to them, one he viewed as a great mother to be beheld with utmost respect, care, and disciplined affection –between the suppressed feelings of anger and rage toward her for his being forced to be what he was-, and the other to be protected at any cost, to be guarded compassionately and fearlessly for her ingenuity, unbridled genius, and care for him.

His Spartan's called to him to fight on, to succeed, to win the day. Their words jumbled into an indecipherable cacophony, but he felt their message. It burned into his heart and mind, and he suppressed the yearning need to know where they were right now. If they were still alive.

And the commanding voice in the background that managed to overshadow them all, calling for him to rise.

"-What'ya doin' big guy?"

The instant that the voice external to his dreams sounded, he woke from his seated slumber and was in action; roaring upright into his full height and his right arm lashing out in a grabbing motion to either capture or remove the previously unnoticed presence. He barely caught the flicker of light vaguely shaped like a body diving away from him before he instinctively rocketed forward on his right leg in the same path.

His perception of time slowed as he reached out his seeking right hand again and saw it close in on the side of camouflaged intruders head, but the moment before he made contact something impacted his right side, overbalancing him and forcing him to roll away to his left.

As speedy as his lurching into action had been, so was his recovery from the roll to avoid whatever had hit him. He sprung back to his full height, crouched into a ready posture, and took in his surroundings.

The Krogan creature was standing where he had been a moment before, and to the Krogan's right, the camouflaged person rematerialized into the slim-bodied hooded Asian woman he'd seen in the briefing. Instantly realising his error in his extremely combative waking, he straightened back into normal posture, raised his open palms toward them and spoke, "Sorry, I wasn't expecting to wake up like that."

"Heh heh!" The Krogan laughed, "This Human has a biiiiiig quad!"

The slim woman likewise relaxed her footing, spreading her arms, "Even Grunt has bad wake ups!"

John nodded silently and instantly entered the name into his HUD and assigned it to the friendly alien so that his HUD would always illuminate him in a subtle green to alert John to him being friendly.

"All the other aliens are too soft… Kasumi too, but not you, Human, I like you," Grunt gruffly rumbled in something between a joke and a threat.

John didn't react beyond quickly taking note of Kasumi's name and likewise entering her into his suit's computer, and made the note to do the same for all of the crew as he had a chance to personally interact with them.

"Touching down in five!"

John looking subtly to the ceiling toward the source of the voice, and then back to Kasumi as she spoke, "Shep sent me down to tell you we'd be having a few little missions on a planet called Illium, he wants everyone to see you in action."

Instantly, John's mind focused even more so than it had already been, "Missions? Who's the enemy? What's the objective?"

"To kill stuff! Heeeh heeeh!" Grunt rumbled with a distinct look of ferocious excitement on his broad amphibian-reptilian face.

"Heeey," Kasumi dragged out with a gentle arch of her lips in a smile as light glinted from her shadowed eyes from turning slightly to Grunt, "We do more than just kill bad guys! Sometimes we save people?"

John frowned within his helmet at the obvious joke and tried to figure the behaviour. He knew that ODST's took distinct pleasure in warfare, and even many experienced marines, but they were all soldiers who had been fighting for both their own survival and the survival of their species for a lifetime, he could understand them taking pleasure in killing the enemy.

But these two didn't seem to be hardened soldiers, and he'd looked briefly through the Normandy's codex on the history of the galaxy and found that there hadn't been a galactic or species-wide scale war in a long time, despite the distant conflicts that constantly plagued any civilisation. He was sure that these two hadn't suffered war, so their cavalier attitude toward killing concerned and confused him.

"Anyway! Shep wants everyone up at the airlock to disembark in a jiffy!" The Asian woman explained in a sing-song voice before her cloak once more engulfed her body.

The opening of the elevator doors a couple of seconds later made her progress clear, and John decided to move after her, Grunt likewise following.

The three were soon isolated within the elevator in silence as it quickly zipped to the second deck, the only audible sounds being Grunt grinding his teeth and Kasumi shuffling from one foot to another. The silent trip came to a quick end as the doors opened once again, and the hustle and bustle of the command deck was revealed.

John heard the quick movement of the cloaked woman to his left and tracked the sound of soft footfalls to the rear of a red headed woman he'd seen previously.

"Boo!"

"Ahhhh!" The red head cried in fright. She spun on her heel, her face flushed and her eyes filled with both mirth and disapproving anger. "Kasumi! Please, not while I'm working on reports!"

"Awww, you!" Kasumi sang out as her cloak faded and her hand cupped the flustered woman's left cheek playfully.

The woman's bright green eyes widened as she realised that his towering form was still looming in the elevator, and she swatted away Kasumi and stepped towards him.

"Hello! My name is Yeomen Kelly Chambers, amongst many tasks, I see to the crews emotional and mental health."

John barely registered the young woman's words as he stared into her eyes, temporarily enamoured by how similar they were to Linda's. His pause lasted a moment longer than normal, and he quickly took stock of what she'd said with a confused knitting of his brow.

"Shepard has filled me in on what you've told him of your history…" She paused, her eyes seemed to grow as her expression softened from pleasant to heartfelt. "I want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything, anything at all! In complete confidence, that I'm happy to listen, and help if I can!"

John was once again placed in a position of not quite knowing what to say. His mind was stuck on the point that someone whose unofficial role was to be the ship's psychologist was offering him sessions. It was a stark contrast to the ONI therapists who on occasions all through his life would want sessions with him and his Spartans.

But the ends were clearly different. The spooks only wanted to be sure that the Spartan's were mentally stable enough to continue being the most effective fighting force within the UNSC. Social difficulties, PTSD, emotional issues of all kinds, were all okay, so long as they didn't get in the way of their objective soldiering skill.

"Thank you, Yeoman," He replied with effort placed into softening his voice to possibly reduce any concerns she might have for him. Her intentions and Shepard's were clearly directed toward making sure the crew was happy, or at least satisfied.

"Keep moving! Human's talk too much!" Grunt grunted impatiently, attempting to muscle his way around John, but instead being forced to side step the Spartan at meeting his resistance to being shoved.

John silently agreed with the alien, passed Kelly a slight nod which she smiled too, and paced through the command deck toward the cockpit, all the while militaristically stewing over the strategically terrible idea to place an entry point to the ship right next to the sole pilot.

"Chief," Shepard greeted as John reached the airlock.

Shepard was standing within the rectangular gangway connected to the external of the airlock, the rest of his mismatched squad were waiting at the other end with moving crowds backing them. John reached Shepard's side, and the Commander started walking toward the rest of the squad as Grunt and Kasumi passed them.

"So I've been in touch with a local law enforcement officer, we're going to be tracking down and dismantling a red sand smuggling operation. This mission is more for you to have a live fire real engagement with the squad, I want you to be able to cooperate with everyone."

John tilted his visor to Shepard, "Understood, I will observe and assist."

They reached the end of the gangway, and the squad very lazily assembled themselves into a strained form of attention, all besides Jacob, who was at strict military attention. "Okay squad, you all already know what we're doing, I'm going to-"

Shepard halted his briefing as his Omni-tool lit up and flashed, like his own; everyone else's eyes drew to the device. Shepard sighed at the inconvenient timing of receiving a call and clenched his right fist in the action to accept the incoming signal.

"Shepard, I have a favour to ask you?"

Shepard -and everyone else- identified Hackett's voice instantly. "Go ahead, Admiral?"

"I need to ask you this unofficially, off Alliance records…" The Admiral paused, as though reconsidering speaking at all. "There's an Alliance scientist, Doctor Amanda Kenson, who's been investigating the Reapers deep in Batarian space. She's been captured, and I need you to break her out."

John filtered the meaning of the subtext. Unofficially the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony was in a state of war, and officially the Alliance denied the Reaper's existence. So this woman's mission was surely a black-op, which meant that neither Anderson nor Alliance command could officially recognise the issue.

Shepard was clearly the logical best choice; he was an elite Alliance soldier, and despite his death and revival to be sided with a terrorist organisation, he had been reinstated within the Alliance military despite it being kept quiet, so he was a deniable asset.

The Commander was clearly following the same line of thought as he silently chewed on his bottom lip, "Alright," He started with an unseen nod to Hackett on the other end of the line, "We'll pack up and head out now, I just-"

"No, Shepard!" Hackett cut in a little too abruptly. "If the Batarians see a full squad, they'll execute Kenson on the spot, if you do this, you need to do it alone."

Shepard frowned at the response, despite clearly following the logic, "Understood sir. Send me the coordinates, I'll plot a course now."

His Omni-tool blinked again at receiving a file, "Sent. Retrieve any evidence Kenson has gathered, Shepard."

He nodded again, and the Omni-tool faded as Hackett cut the call. Shepard reactivated it with a flick of a finger and typed out of code into his palm. "Okay, Miranda, you're going to fill the Chief in on the Eclipse and the mission, Joker is going to drop me off and then come back to retrieve you all."

"Shepard, I –"

Shepard held up his palm to silence his second in command, "Miranda, I don't want to hear it. That's the deal, make sure that the Chief is familiar with everyone because after this we're going to go get that IFF."

The brunette nodded her acceptance and motioned for John to step out of the docking umbilical.

John did as bidden, and turned to watch Shepard pace back to the airlock. The instant that his footing found the Normandy again the umbilical separated and began to retract. Shepard didn't spare a glance back as the airlock began to close and he turned toward the cockpit.

The moment that the Normandy turned toward the sky and began to move John redirected his stance to be facing Miranda, looking for the leadership that Shepard had imparted her with.

"Master Chief, do you know everyone's names?" She asked, looking somewhat uncertainly into his reflective gaze.

John simply shook his head and then faced toward the group.

"Jacob." The dark skinned man introduced.

John didn't state that Jacob was one of the few who he'd entered into his suits computers and stayed silent as the rest of the squad began introducing themselves with simple statements of name until it ended with the aggressive and hardly dressed tattooed woman.

"Acknowledged," John confirmed to them with a nod.

Miranda visibly cringed at how mechanically military he was –she didn't find the irony in the difference in her attitude since first meeting Shepard and opted for stepping around the group and motioning over her shoulder. The squad turned and followed her, not all with pleased expressions at the fact that she was in charge.

John lagged slightly behind the group to take in more of his surroundings without distraction. He tore his suspicious gaze from the massive assortment of aliens and human's whom the squad were comfortably ignoring as they progressed along a passageway flanked by fluorescently lit shop fronts to the windowed walls above, taking in the far-reaching city skyline filled with flying vehicles.

The skyline itself made him think of New Alexandria back on Reach, but the endless stream of small vehicles marked it as being exceptionally different, let alone the thrum of aliens around him.

"Shepard left her in charge."

John suppressed his vexation at having been surprised by the presence and words of the avian alien, Garrus, from having had his attention drawn in too many unknowable directions. Instead, he seamlessly directed a portion of his attention to Garrus and tilted his visor toward him in acknowledgement that he was listening.

"Shepard is a good team leader, he wants everyone to know everyone. This is all about us getting to know you, and you getting to know us," Garrus continued insightfully, giving John a once over. "But I know your type, I've seen Turian black ops before, you're like one of them, you're not just going to be a team member."

John wasn't sure what to say, and for once he was genuinely interested in speaking to an unknown. "I've never been in a team who weren't Spartans," He managed by way of explanation, despite it not being entirely true after the events starting at Halo.

Garrus nodded, "Soldiers like you?" He didn't wait for John to answer before continuing. "I can see you're a leader, and from the very brief summary that you've given us about where you've come from, I trust your skills, I just wanted to let you know that I'd rather follow your lead than hers."

Again, John was treated to frowning within his helmet. This squad was a melting pot, and not in a positive way. They each had a very different temperament and obviously different skill set to give them unique ability within Shepard's squad, but it was clear that generally, they didn't like each other, besides a few getting along quite well, and only in the presence of Shepard were they a united force.

Garrus was obviously Shepard's second in command of choice. He made it clear in his behaviour and mannerisms that he was from a military background, and he still held closely to those doctrines, but Miranda, the mildly abrasive woman, was the second in command.

John had flicked through the codex and found the entry marking Shepard's death and then subsequent return to the galactic scene. Cerberus were a generally hated organisation, and as a Cerberus funded mission, Miranda was the forced piece that was the keystone in the squads divide.

So Garrus's words made one thing clear; if, in the presence of Miranda without Shepard, he would rather unite behind a figure of military experience. "I've got your six," John confirmed Garrus's unsaid request of forming something of a unit.

John took a brief moment of comfort in thought as his view to the skyscape became unobstructed as the group cleared the passageway and made for a pedestal next to a landing pad, it was something that in a sense put him back in familiar territory. Despite it being from a long time ago when he was just a trainee, and the lessons were all centred around teamwork. He had to prove his skill and worthiness as a leader to unite his squad, now he was seeing that he might have to do that again.

The group slowed as Miranda paced ahead and pressed several buttons of the pedestal. John looked to Garrus for an explanation as the crew fell into various relaxed and impatient stances. "This is an automated taxi stand."

John simply nodded and looked back to the mixed crowds pulsing around him. He pressed his mind to not see their alien skin colours and features and to only watch their movements, their behaviours. There were parents with children, young couples, people on their own, and groups of friends –with the odd armed security guard or mercenary mixed in. Shopping, watching, learning, trading, working. The sight almost made him envious for the Humanity of his reality which had been attacked mercilessly upon first contact, that they'd been denied the opportunity of peace on this kind of scale.

A small squadron of three flying car-like vehicles swooped down from the stream of traffic above and settled to a hovering halt millimetres from the balconies surface, and John filed to the third one and at Garrus's prompting and ducked and squeezed his mass into one of the front seats whilst Jacob took the second front seat and Garrus, Jack and Samara likewise had to squeeze to fit into the back seat.

The doors softly shut and the vehicle raised from the balcony. Jacob quickly reached toward the windscreen and tapped on the glass over the vehicle in front of them. A green light flashed, and they were soon in motion as all three of the sky-cars took to the air and sped off into the endless traffic.

"Right, Chief?" Jacob started and then paused, but instead of looking at the latest addition, he turned in his seat and fixed his eyes onto Jack.

John looked subtly over his shoulder and saw Jack holding Jacob's gaze with as much hostility in her expression as possible.

Jacob seemed to be okay with the reaction from the criminal looking woman and continued, "Garrus probably already told you, but we'd rather follow your lead or have you follow ours than Miranda-"

"-I too agree with this," Samara added to the beginnings of the conversation, careless of the hostile gaze that Jack still had fixed onto Jacob's stern gaze. "A warrior of honourable intent is a preferred leader."

"And the fuck are you staring at me for, lost little boy, huh?"

John didn't need to see the tattooed woman to easily know that it was her who'd uttered the expletives.

"Jack," Garrus dragged out her name, drawing himself from peering into the cityscape and attempting to spot their destination to give the girl a bemused look. "You're the one most likely to not be a team player here."

To Jack's credit, her sneer at Garrus's bluntly said words was genuine, "So fucking what! The only reason I haven't beat the Cerberus bitch all the way back to daddy is coz Shepard would lose it if I did!"

John recalled what Garrus had said only minutes earlier about the real reason for this mission being to learn how to work together, so he looked slightly over his shoulder to Jack, "In any case, I am here to forefil a mission, I have your six."

"I bet you want my fuckin' six!"

"Jack!" Garrus exclaimed the woman's name as she barely contained her oncoming tirade. "Chief-"

"-Shut up, alright! I'm not good at all this goody two shoes shit. Yeah, I'll listen to shit you say, better than fucking cheerleader."

John didn't look to her words, but he heard everyone else in the confined space shift their weight to regard her. If out of surprise, or appreciation; he couldn't tell.

A silence stretched on from the ending of Jack's exclamation, and John watched the two vehicles ahead of them slowly arch downwards from the stream traffic.

"Intel? Objectives?" He queried no one in particular.

"Red sand smuggling and distribution point," Jacob answered first.

"Red Sand is a most obnoxious of drugs, it is used to control people all across the galaxy. They spike many unsuspecting victims drinks and food in clubs, then they become addicted, and very few have the financial ability to get the help they need," Samara continued second.

Followed by Garrus, "Likelihood is that it will be a series of loading bays and administrative buildings. They'll have Eclipse mercs out the front, and as soon as the shooting starts, they'll reinforce every position all the way to the offices where they run it from. Asari commandos, Salarian troops, some Human mercs, light mechs and heavy mechs. All of them will have shields, expect rockets, assault weapons, snipers."

"Understood," John replied, his timing perfectly in sync with the three soldier-laden taxis descending to a landing pad with crates stacked all along it. He instantly sighted four human shaped armoured individuals clutching weapons and assembled toward the approaching sky-cars.

He readied himself for movement as they swooped down onto the landing pad in the wake of the first two cars.

"Why is she addressing the hostiles?" John asked aloud as Miranda's car landed first and she gracefully stepped out with her lips moving in speech.

No one in the car had a chance to answer as John fisted the door release before they landed and retrieved his battle rifle in a fluid action. Four quick three round bursts followed an instant later, and the four mercenaries dropped to the floor as the neatly aimed shots tore their brains out the exit holes in the sides of their helmets.

John distantly heard footfalls and pounced the final couple of meters from the car. He landed running and sprinted between the pad and the main loading doors thirty meters away in seconds. The first female shaped yellow and black armoured form to round the corner of the slightly open massive bay doors met a boot in a heel kick to her chest.

She was rocketed away from the inhuman force and collided with another woman behind her like a ragdoll, her chest plate completely caved in and blue-purple blood oozing gratuitously from the ruptures in her suit.

John was quick on his feet, and within moments of kicking the first Asari, he was looming over the second struggling to offset the weight of her dead comrade. John took advantage of her lack of balance and smashed the butt of his rifle forward into her helmet.

Her head cracked back sharply from the impact, and like the chest armour of the first one, a part of her helmet caved in with a small explosion of blood mist. Her body wasn't granted the grace of falling to the floor in her unceremonious death, however, as John released his grip on the barrel of his battle rifle with his left hand, reached forward and secured a grip on the dead Asari's neck.

Comfortable with the distribution of weight, John hefted the limp merc, rested his rifle on her shoulder and rounded the door. There was no hesitation as three Salarian forms were revealed to him; he squeezed the trigger once and watched the first Salarian's shields fizz in response to the impact as well as the alien being forced to brace itself against the impact of the battle rifles more powerful rounds.

He squeezed the trigger a second time, this time aiming at the creature's hip. The effect was two-fold, as the Salarian's shields gave out and green blood sprayed from the wounds that the two bullets that made it through the shielding caused, as well as sending its form tumbling to the ground.

The aliens finally treated John to return fire, raising their weapons at a fraction of the speed that he could, and letting loose a barrage of automatic fire from short automatic weapons. A majority of the rounds impacted the dead Asari held as a shield in John's outreached left hand, causing small impacts and puffs of purple-blue mist to explode from each impact wound.

John made a note of the few rounds that bypassed his temporary defence and hit his personal shield, finding himself pleased with the lack of punch that the weapons had in comparison to the kind of armaments he was accustomed to dealing with.

He tilted the rifle and fired again, this time in two quick trigger pulls ending the life of the second Salarian mercenary. Just as he began to turn his attention to the third and final one, a reverberating below sounded from somewhere behind him, and half of the remaining targets head exploded away from the fired shot.

John quickly dropped the Asari's body and his own weight in the same motion, falling into a kneeling position with his rifle once more grasped firmly in both hands. He scanned the room diligently before calling out to his new team, "Clear of hostiles."

"Mission time; twenty-one seconds, already eight confirmed kills, very efficient!" John identified the fast speaking voice of Mordin from behind him but maintained his position on watching into the warren of shipping containers.

"Efficient! Attacking without orders!" Miranda angrily declared as she marched up to glare into John's faceplate.

In response, he stood to his full height and looked down on her. He wouldn't say it, but silently he was impressed that she was trying to size up to him. He briefly wondered how she'd deal as a Spartan IV back in his version of the Milky Way.

"I was told we were engaging hostiles to break a criminal drug and people smuggling organisation, why talk with them?"

Miranda's jaw dropped a fraction of an inch in response to the blunt answer, and her eyes raged as anger began to well up in her.

"He's right… We know what Eclipse are…" Tali spoke up in defence of the new team member as she hefted her plasma shotgun and squeezed passed John into the doorway.

The young Quarian's choice of words emboldened the others, who otherwise dared not invoke the ire of the Normandy's XO, and they beginning fitting around John's bulky form to follow after Tali as she headed into the complex with her weapon shouldered.

John decided that a non-verbal response would be best and swung his gaze from Miranda to the team filtering into the space beyond, he looked back at her again for a lingering moment, before turning on his heel and falling into step beside Grunt.

"Got a quad, Human!"

John didn't understand what that kind of statement meant, but he got the context. He increased his pace and in three long strides caught up to Garrus and Tali who were both advancing toward the end of the docking hall at a quick march pace. "Someone wasn't very happy about all that."

Tali reacted with a tiny scoff of laughter to Garrus's assessment of the small confrontation while all John could muster was to raise his battle rifle back to his shoulder. "Taking point."

He did as he advised he would and quickened his pace slightly. He reached the wall made of shipping crates ahead of everyone else and took an immediate left around the side of the container before taking a right into a passage made of containers.

"Passageway clear, good place for an ambush…"

Garrus rounded the corner behind John with his Mattock raised and aiming at the top of the crates high above them in suspicion of.

"Who's the fastest here?" John asked as the rest of the squad halted behind John and Garrus with their weapons likewise raised toward the tiers of crates.

Mordin's voice was the first to breach the silent thoughts of everyone, "Previous assessment, would have said Grunt, Thane or Jacob over a distance of that… After seeing you engage the troops at the landing pad, you are the fastest here."

Garrus, Thane, Jacob and the gruff man of few words Mercenary Zaeed all peeled off to either side of the passageway. Each knelt and leant against the containers to achieve the widest angle possible to cover John's advance.

"Passageway covered," Garrus advised with an excited glint in his eye; expressions that each of the four men in covering positions wore reflective of their growing appreciation of a more militarised and tactical approach to leadership.

The Spartans helmet nodded in agreement with Garrus's advisement, and he shouldered his battle rifle before palming his pistol off his thigh guard in preparation for possible close quarters fighting. I sent the squad a final glance to ensure they would all be ready for movement and was pleased to see that they were all, besides Miranda, focused on where he would be running to.

Happy in the knowledge that he was well and truly covered by his new team, he braced himself and then flung his weight forward in a sprint, taking off at blinding speeds and finding himself halfway along the fifty-meter passageway within seconds.

Several shots rang out behind him, he likened the sound to a sledgehammer striking a picket, and he identified the weapon as the Mattock rifles that Garrus, Zaeed, and Jacob were wielding.

"Goddam drones coming, keep on goin'" Zaeed's unmistakable voice slurred over the radio as John did just that and sped the remaining distance in the passageway, ignoring the sound of mass effect rounds pinging off the concrete floor in his wake, granting him just a little pleasure in knowing that his Spartan speed was enough to avoid the tracking speed of military drones in this reality, where only Kelly had been capable of that in his home reality.

But his pleasure was short-lived, as several steps before reaching the end of the passageway a dozen thinly built humanoid robots rounded the corner with their smg's already firing. John acted on instinct and took advantage of his momentum, dropping onto his knees in a skid that had a majority of the fired rounds sweeping overhead and cleanly missing.

He slid heavily into the group, his mass destroying the bottom halves of six of them. The light mechs were only just beginning to refocus their aim on him when he bounced up amongst them, his right elbow sweeping out and removing the head of one and his swing ending in him straightening his arm and pulling the trigger of his pistol, the round tearing through the central chest cavity of another.

He sidestepped the barrel of the smg of the first mech to aim at him again and sent two quick rounds through its head. Before the metal body had a chance to fall, he'd grasped its left arm and swung it like a club into the remaining three. The metal bodies met in a shower of sparks as their bodies broke apart from the impact.

He was granted no reprieve, however, as the sound of a heavy footfall marked the arrival of a new threat. John instinctively dove to his right and narrowly avoided the impact of a short-range missile fired from meters away. He rolled back to his feet and looked up into the mass of what could only be a heavy mech.

It levelled its right arm at him, and he identified it as being an inbuilt chain gun but before he had time to move or act in the slightest to avoid the attack or fight back the slim build of Jack rocketed into the machine, veiled in a shroud of blue energy. "Told you I got your six too, soldier boy!"

John kept his focus on the fight, seeing Jack massively overestimate her own attack as the machine merely stumbled to its left and redirecting its primary weapon to aim squarely at the much smaller but still easily sighted target.

He leapt forward with both arms outreached, grasping the top of the machines arm and bringing it ramming down into his raised knee. The attack yielded no result, so he quickly repeated the action twice more until the metal joints that held the arm together snapped in a loud crack, and the arm fell limply.

He ducked under the swinging left arm and sent a flurry of strikes into the machine's midsection, resulting in only loud cracks and fist sized dents being formed. Once more, John found himself ducking as the left arm came roaring back from its first attempt to crush him, and he rolled away from the engagement, standing to find Jack having copied his choice of action and kneeling to his left amidst the pile of light mechs he'd already dispatched.

The same thundering below of a rifle shot from earlier sounded again, and an explosive round detonated in the middle of the mechs mass and sent it back two more steps. The shot was followed by a stream of fire as the rest of the squad gained clear lines of sight on the target around John and Jack.

Under the combined fire the machine only managed one more forward step before succumbing to the rain of damage being dealt to it, and it keeled forward front side first, its mainframe clearly stressed to the point of failure from the multitude of holes burnt through its body.

"The Master Chief is indeed a skilled soldier, it is a pleasure to have you on the team."

Thane's random declaration was met with a series of nods, remarkably even Jack gave a small nod and smirk of approval.

"We can discuss everyone's strengths later! Let's keep going, there will be at least three more main cargo rooms to clear," Miranda snapped out as she stepped around the group with her Phalanx pistol raised and ready.

John caught the barely audible sigh of exasperation from Jacob and Garrus but followed their prompting as they readied their weapons and flanked her.

"Mordin, Grunt, Kasumi and Thane, go ahead and clear the room, we'll give cover fire."

The four likewise raised their weapons and proceeded into the room, despite the expressions of unease in following the XO's command. From what John could tell of each squad members individual skills, it was a poor choice of recon and first engagement team, but it did bring him a marker of hope that the team did at least unite whether they liked the order or the person giving it or not.

"Chief, you hang back with Jack and observe."

"The fuck?" Jack burst out the moment the final syllable left Miranda's mouth. "Having your two heaviest hitters hang back? What's your issue you stupid-"

Jack paused in her looming rant at the unexpected presence of a hand resting on her shoulder. She looked up with an aggressive glint in her eye to the Spartans golden faceplate and its honeycomb pattern. "You CO has given an order, it'd be better to follow it."

Her brow knitted together in anger, but a glint of understanding flashed through her eyes at telling John disagreed with the order just as much but found it prompt to simply follow the order while Miranda was in charge. Her eyes slightly widened as she realised just how strategic a move it was.

By sucking it up and dealing with Miranda being in charge, and simultaneously working in with the team and learning about them, he was earning the team's trust and respect whilst having the chance to prove himself as both a leader and a skilled soldier.

She scowled and looked back to Miranda, "Fine then."

"Let's get this over with."

The advance team moved at Miranda's supporting sounding order, and at a quick jog took off around the corner into the next loading bay. The immediate sound of gunfire following and Miranda lead the second team of herself, Garrus, Jacob, Samara, and Tali in. More gunshots were added to the cacophony, and John quickly marched to the container that marked the beginning of the new Bay, his battle rifle once more shouldered and seeking targets.

"Playing real smart, totally owning merc ass and then playing nice with Cheerleader like that."

John put a small portion of his attention to Jack as she spoke whilst clicking his rifle into single shot mode and drawing a sight on all of the exposed Asari and Salarians in Eclipse colours in elevated positions firing down on the two small teams running and gunning their way deeper into the room strewn with medium to large sized crates.

Upon not getting an immediate response, Jack rounded the corner too and looked from the chaotic scene to the Spartan and his readied stance. "I count fifteen mercs pinning them down, how many shots do you have lined up?"

John did a quick check back to the two teams and saw them defending themselves via Miranda's commands with an array of special ammunition and abilities linked to their specialities, a majority of them failing to make a meaningful impact on the enemy under the direction of the Cerberus leader.

"Twenty Eclipse keeping the teams pinned, sixteen clear shots from here," John replied as he would if he were on spotter duty back in training. Of course, his history of acting as a sniper all throughout the war with the Covenant had never been true to the proper way of sniper training with a spotter.

"Take the shots then?"

John looked from his scope to the small woman and analysed her nonchalant expression for hints to any ulterior motive.

"Look, most of the squad are damn goody two shoes losers who normally I'd hate, but they're a good bunch. Cheerleader is just an insecure idiot who should never be in charge of anything, I mean, even she's alright sometimes. Shep just puts her in charge because he still answers to the Illusive Man."

John continued to analyse her expression, having changed to a strained look. It was clear that she had emotional issues when it came to expressing how she felt –something that he could understand from a different perspective.

"You take those shots, you might save one or more of them from being hurt or dying, we get this job done quicker, and there are two wins in you being given more trust and Miranda being given less."

He looked at her for a moment longer before moving back to the scope and sighting on the furthest target, "Taking the shots."

A gunshot sounded an instant later. John adjusted the angle and fired again, and then again, and again with three quick changes of direction.

His finger hovered over the trigger silently in a brief reprieve from what looked like it would be his quick process of dispatching the enemies, luring Jack to peer closely at his targets. His intended target was instantly clear as an Asari amidst three Salarians retrieving a grenade from her belt to hurl at Miranda's group.

Another shot sounded, and before the Asari had the chance to release the explosive device from her grip it exploded in a blossom of fire that engulfed the group that she was in.

Jack whistled in admiration, "Five shots eight kills. You're pretty fuckin' handy, aren't you?"

The Spartan didn't reply, instead opting to simply move onto the next group of targets behind some crates on the opposite side of the walkway from the squad who were providing enough suppressing fire that they weren't able to get an effective shot off in any direction.

His next shot didn't result in the death of the female armoured figure, as it had the previous ones. Instead, her body glowed a shimmering purple unlike the regular blue of shields. She turned her gaze from the two embattled squads bellow her and brought her rocket launcher to bear on John, having singled out his position from the faint muzzle flashes.

He squeezed the trigger again before flicking the firing mode back into three shot bursts, "Advance."

John stepped fully from behind the crate that he and Jack had been taking cover behind at a quick walk, his rifle shoulders and kicking against his shoulder as he squeezed off rounds at the Asari who was defiant to his attempts to dispatch her.

"Rocket incoming!"

John was well aware of the fact that the Asari was lining up the perfect shot before Jack shouted her warning, and he released the grip of his rifle to reach out and shove the tattooed woman away from him as the rocket roared from the Asari's launcher toward him.

He would have been grilled by any of his squad or Mendez for his choice of actions in the past, but like with his first few hits from Mass Effect rounds, he wanted to know what kind of punch the weapons he'd be facing packed.

His adrenaline spiked as the rocket honed in on him, and he dropped his weight into a kneel to do his best to disperse the force of the explosion. Like an explosive kick from a Sangheili, John was thrown several meters from the point that the rocket impacted him in a blossom of fire, but he was quick to be back to his feet with his rifle already firing at the Asari.

This time, intentionally, his shots were true, and two three round bursts tore through what he figured must have been a biotic shield and painted the wall behind her purple with blood.

"What the fuck, you going hero mode or some shit!" Jack angrily yelled at him as she dove from behind one container to the next with her right arm raised and blindly firing her pistol at the enemy.

John frowned in a moment of confusion before realising how his actions looked and decided it was best to be coldly honest and logical, "I wanted to know what kind of damage those rockets would do. Only twenty-six percent damage to my shield."

"Shit…" Jack spat out incredulously as she did a once over of the armoured soldiers. "They sure built you tough, didn't they?"

John was inclined to agree but stowed the thought for later as the background cacophony of gunfire continued. He slapped a new magazine into the battle rifle and switched back to single shot mode as he sighted onto a group of Salarians firing a stream or automatic fire at Grunt.

He fingered the trigger in several quick successions, sending four tightly grouped shots into each of the five targets. Grunt roared in laughter in response to the death of his assailants. "This is getting fun!"

"Chief, can you scale any of the containers?"

John looked from his newest target to Garrus calling to him from beside an angry looking Miranda. He looked to the closest container and then back to Garrus with a single nod, before moving to make a dash to the uniformly three-meter tall container.

"Hey! I'm coming with!" Jack yelled over the latest series of gunshots to the Spartan.

John paused and looked from the much smaller person than himself and the container and back to her, an action to ask how she intended to do that.

She quickly caught on and didn't waste a second in pouncing toward his back and subsequently sliding off his shield millimetres from actually touching him.

John wanted to sigh in frustration, but opted for the easier option and simply nudged his shield control with his chin, turning it off, and grabbing the girl off the ground and swinging her heavily onto his back as he took off to the container. Jack latched on for dear life as before she knew it the massive soldier had launched himself into the air with enough force to not only carry him to the top of the container but to easily clear the height and skid along the top.

She felt jolts and her ears filled with uncomfortably close gunfire, and she realised that in an instant the man had lifted his oversized magnum off his hip and start firing it. Jack's eyes instantly found the group of Asari targets and saw all but one crumpling to the ground from the unexpected assault.

The fourth rolled to her right to avoid the barrage and bounced back up with her rifle roaring a stream of rounds at John and with a vortex of energy forming around her body. John rolled his shoulder back to force Jack off him, and then he shimmered from the activation of his shields just in time to take the hits of the stream of bullets impacting him.

His magnum clicked as he fired the final round in the magazine, and quickly holstered it again as he moved to engage the Asari in close quarters. The Asari seemed more than happy with that form of combat, dropping her own rifle and flinging a biotic pulse at the steadily approaching giant.

Jack saw that it was meant to be a warp attack as it struck the armoured man and didn't seem to do anything. Another one quickly followed, followed by what was meant to be a throw, and then John was within reaching distance.

He threw a punch at her and using a biotic pulse the Asari sent her own weight tumbling away before correcting her balance with another pulse. Jack sneered at the move and figured that this one had to be a commander with more experience under her belt to quickly adapt her biotic fighting style, but her sneer quickly shifted to a smirk, seeing her huge ally already closing the distance, and knowing that the conclusion of the fight was already clear.

Again, the Asari's body was wrapped in energy, and she sent a fist hurtling toward the Spartans knee, an attack that would have crippled any normal soldier. But with disturbing speed, the warrior's own fist lashed out and impacted the assaulting limbs' elbow sending the bones of her forearm tearing through her flesh and suit.

The scream of pain that would have followed never did as the Spartan shifted his weight in an instant and sent a heel kick crushing into his foe's chest, crushing her armour inwards and sending her flying into a container behind her with bone crushing force.

"Shit…" Jack trailed off at the quick end to the fast-paced fight. "Err, many left?"

John regarded her for a moment, finding it oddly pleasing seeing her amazement and flash of fear at his combative skill, giving him a sense of normality in how he was treated back in his own reality by non-Spartans.

On cue, Garrus's voice sounded out bellow, "All clear down here."

"Uhm, clear up here too?" Jack called back, looking at the armoured soldier uncertainly.

John did a quick scan around the stacked containers, taking note of the ones that had been opened up to be small passageways for the enemies previous cover before nodding. "Clear."

"Thought I fucking might be useful up here," Jack muttered as she rose back to her feet and hopped off the edge that they'd previously scaled and made her way back to the squad.

John sprung down in her wake and marched up to the group to a range of approving expressions. Miranda's being the only one that wasn't one hundred percent happy.

"We'll proceed with the same squad arrangement-"

"-What! The Chief just-" Tali blurted over Miranda before the Cerberus officer raised her open palm and continued with a stony glare aimed at the master thief.

"And with the Chief and Jack running cover for the squad," She finished to the group who all seemed ready to get on with the mission that was proving to be a different kind of problem to what was expected.

John didn't have an issue with it, either way, he simply wanted to show his effectiveness to facilitate working better with Shepard. His thoughts were centred on who and what he know fought for, and Shepard seemed to be walking a middle ground that John thought would help guide him toward his ideal answer.

 **X**

As it turned out, Miranda's order's hadn't mattered; the remaining two cargo bays had been empty of soldiers, and only a few waves of light mechs met them and were quickly dispatched from coordinated squad fire, and they ended up in a balcony room filled with dead commandoes.

Garrus had surmised that it was likely that the ring leader had killed the group with an explosive and made their escape, to ensure that there weren't any loose ends, or loose lips, to disclose more Eclipse operations.

Despite the dispute issues with Miranda in charge, John found himself feeling very accomplished in the mission. He'd not only learnt of each squad members individual combat style but how each of them best worked with others and how they viewed him.

He was sitting on a metal pedestal on the edge of a balcony with the rest of the squad arranged on chairs around tables a short distance away, most of them with drinks or food in front of them. He analysed each of them, he observed the world functioning to multi-culturally around him and wondered on everything he could in this world to stave off thinking of the reality from which he'd come.

He feared for his Spartans that would still be fighting. Ached for the sacrifice and passing of Cortana. Raged over the arrogantly oppressive actions of the Didact that had culminated his own life of warfare and suffering into him being where he now was.

"Must be tough-"

John's visor snapped up in surprise to the unexpected presence of Jacob, momentarily surprising him too.

Jacob cleared his through, nodded an apology, and continued, "Probably a lot more to your story? It must be hard being forced out of your fight and being thrown into a brand new world. Especially one that's probably so alien."

"Joker is inbound, ETA fourteen hours." Miranda declared to the group after turning off her omni-tool.

She received various nods from the group, and almost everyone turned their own omni-tools on in submission to the time that they'd have to wait.

John looked back to Jacob and nodded, "Yeah, this world is very alien. Uncomfortably peaceful."

Jacob frowned in concern, "I'd hate to have been in the war you were in if even after today you think it's peaceful here."

Combat was combat, John knew that. No true measure of peace existed in any range of combat, but even still, here they were following an engagement, sitting in an alfresco restaurant on the trade floor surrounded by the same species of aliens they'd just been fighting, even having Asari and Salarians amongst the squad.

The idea of seeing Sangheili, Unggoy or even Kigyar walking around on any UNSC world peacefully seemed impossible to John.

"That war is over," John declared after a moment of thoughtt. He didn't acknowledge to Jacob that he was aware of the sad expression that the man was giving him. "I ended that fight."

"And now you have a new one, Master Chief." Samara introduced herself to the conversation, having stalked over to listen to Jacob talking to the latest addition to the crew. She grabbed the back of a chair, swung it from the table it was placed at and seated herself facing Jacob and the Chief, waving over her shoulder to a waitress in the same motion.

"For what do you fight now?" She asked from her comfortably seated position.

John thought on it again, the minute of silence giving the waitress time to come and take Samara's order.

Would he fight for Humanity? His first thought had been definitely, even if they were not his Humanity. But seeing Humans and aliens mingling socially and culturally so comfortably he was having trouble with the principles and ethics that truly separated them.

He was done with being the weapon of governments, of being ordered to serve singular purposes. The peace and successful multiculturalism around him whispered to a childish dream that still managed to exist within his heart. It brought flashes of memories, imagination from his childhood, of worlds of aliens, of peace, of exploring and growing.

"I fight for peace now."

John heard the words leave his mouth before he had a chance to analyse too deeply, and found himself retrospectively happy with the choice of words that painted this new galaxy with a very broad brush.


	4. Chapter 4

**As always, I will never have these finished and up as fast as I hope, but I will always complete and upload as fast as I can.  
Who else has gotten ME: A?  
I'm only up to the part of meeting the Nexus, so I shall reserve my judgement, besides from still not liking the basic premise. **

**As always, please review your thoughts?  
It's very motivating receiving reviews positive to my writing on FanFiction. If there are things that you dislike, please don't flame, just explain why you disliked it and how you think it could be better, and I will endeavour to learn to improve in that area.  
And if you spot what appears to be a blatant error, again, please don't flame. I write this as a hobby, so yes I do sometimes make mistakes. You can message me or review the fact that that error is there and I will edit it out and re-upload.**

 **Review responses:**

 **GhostOfOnyx: Just as you reviewed that I got up to the scene where I was writing the foundation for Chief and Tali to have a clash of personality and the contrast of their similarities. I am still undecided if I will develop him into having any form of Romance, I am very tempted though. So I will see how that pans out. I haven't planned much in this story, a lot of it is coming to life as I write it. So I hope you enjoy the way I've begun Tali's and John's path of becoming closer!**

 **Pretorious: Haha the "nice" reviewer :') You are almost right in that. I explained it somewhat in the start of this chapter. It was intentionally phrased to sound off-key or out of normal character as a part of his adapting to this new world. One of my aims is to change the Chief's character. Not blatantly or into something distinctly different, but to evolve it subtly into the kind of character who would fit within the normal ME universe, while still retaining his typical Chief and Spartan attitude.**

 **GRPF: Yes! Not a whole lot more, but yes all the same. I shan't ruin the surprise, which probably won't be all that surprising when I get to it.**

 **Chapter Four**

 **..:: It's Only Just Beginning ::..**

John felt his spirit aching, in a way that was wholly new and unusual, but completely comparable to his pre-augmentation days in training. His ability to be open and sociable was being trained, just as his body had once been trained for war. He'd been thinking on the matter for the past four hours since boarding the Normandy and taking a seat in the mess hall and cleaning each of his weapons.

If Spartan II's were anything, it was adaptable; and John had always adapted to new environments, threats, and allies as efficiently as possible in the time available. The only difference in his adaptability here regarding socialising was how much safer and slower it was.

When he had first truly been separated from Blue Team and had adapted to working with normal Marines and Navy personnel, the war and ensuing conflicts had been in a cycle of escalation. They had rushed from one conflict to the next to the next without pause. There had been no time to truly learn one another, to truly adapt to one another, as he and all of his fellow Spartans had once done through their induction into the Spartan II program.

But now here he was, trying to find a new purpose, in a new conflict, amongst new allies, with nothing but time –compared to his previous scale of measurement of time- to adapt to these new elements.

Something else was different, though, and John had trouble putting his finger on it. He'd always been fairly introspective, often in a manner to prevent himself from accidentally questioning too much, or thinking too deeply, but this was something different.

When he rested his mind drifted to thoughts, events, memories, that he couldn't place. He'd recall voices that spoke in tongues that he'd never heard, but he somehow knew what they said.

John was sure that it was something from his encounter with the Librarian, and it terrified and calmed him at once. It terrified him in the same way that his augmentations had first terrified him, that he was something else, something new and more, and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to adapt to this new way of being.

But it also calmed him, in knowing that like his augmentations, he'd overcome the initial difficulty of learning them and growing.

" _The Mantle was to be ours! Now it can be again!"_

John instinctively cringed at the hissing voice within his mind, and he recalled the Didact speaking of the Mantle, and the details on the concept he'd found in the terminals around Requiem. Back in his own reality, he felt that the concept of the Mantle could exist, but not here, not in the same way.

The nearby scuff of rubberised soles landing on metal drew Johns mind from his thoughts, and he turned his visor toward the elevator, to unsurprisingly seeing Jacob approach. It was clear that the young soldier both looked up to the Spartan and pitied him, John appreciated both aspects of that equally, despite pity generally not being something that was wanted.

"I thought you might like some help?"

John tilted his head slightly to the right in obvious confusion to the seemingly random announcement.

Jacob took the gesture clearly and quickly and smiled in apology, "I mean with your weapons. I figured you'd have limited supply of ammunition, and might want some help in being able to make more?"

The Spartan did a mental count and instantly realised just how true what Jacob was saying was, and he mentally kicked himself for missing such an important and simple fact. "That would be very helpful. Could you fabricate any of my weapons for the crew to use? I also have schematics uploaded into my suits computer."

Jacobs eyes momentarily widened in greedy anticipation, somewhat similarly to how Johns had when he'd been introduced to the last round of suit modifications.

"Want to come up to the Armoury to take a look? I asked Tali and Mordin to help as well, they both know tech way better than me."

John stood from his seated position, collecting his weapons and returning them to their proper places around his body before catching up beside Jacob as they rounded the elevator shaft and neared the door.

"What was the ETA to picking up Shepard?" John asked out of the blue as they entered the elevator and it began to ascend.

Shortly after Joker arriving back on Illium and collecting them, he'd told of where he'd dropped off Shepard, and that there had been no contact since. Everyone had seemed distinctly unsettled about it, but equally accepting. It was something that hadn't sat well with John, and he'd convinced Joker, with Garrus and Tali to back him up, that regardless of Shepards orders about doing this mission alone.

That he and the two who'd flanked him would assist in finishing Shepard's mission and then depart to collect the IFF from the dead Reaper to hasten the victory that was sorely needed against the Reapers.

Garrus and Tali had both been incredibly impressed with how quickly the Spartan had become almost fluently versed in the ways of their world regarding Mass Effect travel, relays, and the Reapers. It was a point that John had committed a portion of his focus on in every quiet moment with reading over the codex and Shepard's mission logs.

So as John had expected, in a way that was apparently often under the command of Shepard, Joker crumbled in his initial defence and found himself convinced to follow the orders of the most superior leader present.

"We're about five hours out from the Bahak system, plenty of time to go over your weaponry," Jacob answered as the doors to the elevator slid open, and once more Kelly's searching green eyes turned to find the towering Spartan.

"Hi, Chief!" She called all too comfortably for John's liking. "I was hoping you'd have time for a chat?"

Jacob proved once more be intuitive to John's thinking, and lead the way left out of the elevator keeping his body between the inquisitive yeoman turned psychologist and the super soldier. "Sorry Yeoman, Chief is up here to discuss weapons with us."

Kelly looked discerningly into Jacobs' eyes before looking up to the golden faceplate of the towering soldier for any form of communication. John gave a single nod to agree with Jacobs statement, which the woman gave a small and comfortably pleasant smile too, "Understood, Mr Taylor, but remember I like to make sure all of the crew feel comfortable talking about anything to me."

Her eyes shifted between the two and finished on John, but once more Jacob answered for him, "Got it, Yeoman."

Taking the prompt answer as the cue to continue John strode forward, thankful that he'd read the cue correctly and Jacob was moving in synch with him toward the Armoury. As they stepped through the first doorway, Jacob regarded the soldier, "You know she won't stop trying."

John nodded, recalling the few passing meetings he'd had with the woman so far and seeing the persistence in her duties. "Only psychologists I've ever spoken with have been Spooks. Only ever really spoke with Spartans, Cortana and Halsey."

The instant that he'd spoken he found himself feeling surprised and relieved over how candidly he'd mentioned both Cortana and Halsey's names, taking it as a sign that he was taking steps in the right direction of adapting to his new path forward.

"Spooks?" Jacob asked as they cleared the second doorway into the Armoury to the waiting fluorescent eyes of Tali and eternally curious ones of Mordin.

Once more John found himself feeling somewhat pleased with himself that he was taking in the images of these aliens without any imminent desire to kill them. That he regarded them as comrades, despite the short time he'd been with the crew.

"Spooks are ONI intelligence officers," John explained, realising that adding in ONI only deepened Jacobs lack of familiarity with what he was talking about.

But to the former Alliance Marine's credit, he stacked the revealed facts together quickly, "Office of Naval Intelligence? So they kept an eye on the Spartans?"

John reached the table in the centre of the room first, already having removed his rifle from his back to place down as he looked to Jacob again, impressed with the simple deduction. "Yeah. Spartans were considered unstable."

"Unstable?" Mordin queried in place of Jacobs stemming curiosity. "I have observed you performing efficiently in combat scenarios, and you are clear in your communication with squad members."

John easily ignored the instinct to scoff, his pistol joining his rifle on the table, followed by his remaining magazines for each weapon. "The Spooks would enjoy interviewing you."

"Did the Spartan's come up with calling them Spooks?" Tali added to the questions as her fingers brought the Magnum to her faceplate for closer inspection.

"No, Marines started calling them Spooks a long time before I was a Spartan, but the name suits them."

"UNSC has very active branches of military? Must do! You described cataclysmic war, autonomy would be critical to survival," Mordin asked and answered as he, like Tali, retrieved the rifle from the table to inspect.

Jacob likewise drew near and collected one of the rifles magazines and quickly working out how to slide the bullets out to inspect.

"Warfare was constant for over thirty years. Yeah, each branch of the military was fairly autonomous and active." John concluded for Mordin, watching the three of them turn his weapons and ammunition over in their hands.

"May I scan this?" Tali enquired with her eyes wide through the haze within her visor.

John met her eyes with his own and realised the strangeness of that fact that she didn't know their eyes were meeting. That his vision was astute enough to make out the details and very human shape of her facial structure including the flowing lines of two separate tattoos that began at the internal edges of her eyebrows and arched up into her hairline, a fact that he knew none of the other crew would be aware of.

In an instant, he couldn't resist the feeling that he had something in common with the young Quarian woman at a baseline level. His moment of distracted thought shook as he realised all eyes were upon him, and he nodded, "Feel free. If I am crew now, then it would be better if you could improve your weaponry from something I can offer."

None of the three wasted a moment in lighting up their omni-tools and sending searching waves of light over the weapons and ammunition. John watched for a moment before retrieving the Forerunner light rifle off his back and the bolt shot off his left hip and placing them on the table along with the few small canisters of their ammunition that he still had.

"Ahhh!" Mordin's eyes lit up at the offering of the very alien looking devices. "Forerunner?" He asked knowingly and continued regardless of missing the Chief nod his head. "Definitely! Something about hard-light projectiles you said? Incredible technology! To think, that even your version of Humanity is so much more advanced than us!"

John did think about it and found it strange and alien in itself. In many ways, even the Forward Unto Dawn, or the Pillar of Autumn, were more advanced than the Normandy in their battle and travel capability, besides the fact that slip space afforded much slower travel than the Mass Relays.

And yet, the Normandy, and what seemed to be the trend for all or most vessels in this reality, held a futuristically idealistic gleam and shine to them that managed to look like something between Covenant and UNSC and more advanced than both, and yet it was neither more advanced or effective.

Although the thought of the Infinity quickly sprung to mind, and he decided that She certainly did trump everything he'd seen here just off visuals alone.

"Will you be able to replicate the ammunition?" John decided to ask after a moment more of the three tinkering with his tools of war.

"-Definitely!" They all chimed in synch with three separate proud and interested expressions.

"I can make more of the bullet projectiles easily. It's old tech, but the calibration of yours is much more refined than old Alliance stuff, but should be easy enough to put together." Jacob started with both palms full holding several bullets from each weapon.

Tali held up the Magnum and used it as a pointer toward the rifle as she expanded on Jacobs introduction, "And I can easily fabricate these weapons, maybe even improve them!"

"Forerunner rifle system appears very simple in nature, a simple application of advanced micro energy emitters. Must examine further, but replication should be possible. " Mordin finished for the three.

John looked from one to the next to the weapons back on the table. He'd expected good news about his UNSC weaponry, having read as Jacob had just confirmed that the Alliance had likewise once used similar weaponry, but it was Mordin's declaration that gave him a spike of excitement.

He hadn't used either weapon since coming here, wanting to reserve their effectiveness for dire situations. Since first encountering the Forerunner weapons on Requiem he'd grown to appreciate their versatility and lethality, so knowing that he'd have a ready supply of them to use on the battlefield was incredibly reaffirming.

"Ahhh, good news unexpected!" Mordin declared to the Spartans' silence with a broad smile. "Will always work hard to help squad members," He finished.

"We're a squad, Chief, we're always going to be happy to work with you," Tali expressed in a more emotionally reassuring tone than Mordin.

Jacob gave a short chuckle, "At least most of us will be."

"What did you mean when you said that you fight for peace now?" Tali asked with her eyes wide and curious, turning the conversation away from heading in the direction of Miranda.

"Yes, I too wondered about that statement. Very grand thing to say, and much more cliché' sounding than what I would have expected from you?" Mordin promptly added on.

John made a point of aiming his gaze at the floor to express non-verbally that he was thinking. It was an action purely to show his new squad that he was indeed thinking about it, as he'd already mulled over similar thoughts ever since leaving the Forerunner Slip Space beacon installation.

"In my reality, the only peace I ever knew with any aliens was at the very end of the war when one of our enemies sided with the UNSC. The Spartan II's were created to bring peace to the UNSC, to Humanity," He halted his explanation as his mind raced ahead to nail down his reaching thoughts.

"But peace between Humans and Aliens here is normal. It looks like the kind of peace that we once fought for, for Humanity. I used to fight for Humanity, then I fought for my Spartans, then I fought for those who'd died to reach peace. Preserving this peace you all have is the same as fighting for peace for Humanity in my old world."

"Hmm, insightful answer!" Mordin assessed with a content smile on his thin lips.

Jacob smiled similarly and nodded, whilst Tali knit her full lips together in thought, unaware that the other helmeted squad mate could see her expression. From what he knew of her, she didn't, or wouldn't have, disagreed with his statement, but her lack of positive expressive spoke volumes over how it made her reflect on her own people.

John had read about the Geth and their history. About their war with their creators, all the way up to them reemerging into the Galaxy to fight with Sovereign. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about their history and their latest inclusions in galactic happenings didn't match up.

He stored the thought for later when Joker's vexingly casual tone called from the ceiling, "Eh, Chief? You might want to take this? Call from Hackett coming in the cockpit."

 **X**

As John had already decided, he would proceed with his life in this new Milky Way free of the bonds of serving Humanity, or anyone in particular, for the time being. So when Hackett had called the Normandy, concerned about the lack of update he'd received from Shepard, Kenson, and the Reaper artefact, John had been forward in dealing with the issue, as he'd already directed Joker to do in their mission to retrieve the Commander and finish his mission.

Hackett had withered under the Spartans resolute approach to the matter, especially after the attempt of the Admiral ordering John to wait for confirmation from Shepard, and John defiantly answering in the negative. That he was not one of his Alliance assets to command.

The call had ended without any falling out or issues beyond Hackett stressing that if things went bad that it was on the Spartan, and with Joker childishly complaining that he wished he could speak to authority like that.

"Like I told you! Space is freaking big, how the hell are we meant to find Shepard even if we know he's in the system somewhere?" Joker complained; looking from his console to the Spartan poised behind his chair in a manner similar to how Shepard often did.

"EDI, scan all alliance frequencies," John ordered, past Joker and to the AI within the ships system.

"Master Chief," The AI started, her tone both informative and annoyed. "I have already scanned every frequency in the system and have found nothing linking Shepard's position."

John thought on the rebuttal for a moment, taking note that Garrus and Tali had both arrived behind him, the latter of which held his battle rifle and pistol ready for him. "Kenson is here on a black op. Are there any frequency dead zones?"

"Scanning," EDI confirmed toward the suggestion. "One dead zone detected surrounding a four thousand kilometre section of the asteroid field."

"That narrows it down," Joker snorted, but still veered the Normandy in the direction suggested.

"Visual scan, find the largest asteroid within that dead zone," John continued without missing a beat, regardless of Joker's lack of enthusiasm.

A moment later, a distant, but quickly growing larger asteroid flashed pale green through the forward display screen. "Largest asteroid located, closer observation shows signs of structures on the surface."

"Take us in, find a place to drop me-"

"-Us," Garrus interrupted.

"-To drop us off," The Spartan finished.

Joker didn't respond right away, and the occasional pulse of energy across the view screen showed EDI at task scanning the growing asteroid and visible base on it with the forward cameras.

"Landing pad located."

Joker smoothly adjusted their approach toward EDI's advisement, and within moments found themselves racing toward their disembarking point. John turned to the two squad mates behind him, directing his stance to Tali.

The young Quarian understood the unspoken request instantly and offered the extra-universal Human his weapons back. John retrieved them and put them back in their proper places quickly, once more stretching out his right hand, retrieving a duffel bag that Tali had swung over her shoulder.

He opened it with a clatter as the stacks of magazines within slid across one another. He collected a handful with an approving nod, checked that they were correct, and went about slotting them into his ammunition storage compartments in the same storage order that he always did between primary and secondary weapons.

"You can leave the bag with me, if you want," Joker offered, spying the still weighted bag over his shoulder.

John nodded his thanks and swung the bag to the base of the pilot's chair and made a quick march to the nearby airlock, Tali and Garrus close behind him.

"Get ready!" Joker called.

The three squad mates braced themselves against the wall within the airlock as the inertia dampeners struggled to offset the sudden deceleration. "Now!" Joker roared as the door opened.

John was the first to move and with one large footstep was at the edge of the ship. He waited a moment to hear the movement of Garrus and Tali behind him before stepping over the edge and dropping a meter to the concrete tarmac below. He felt the odd shift in the artificial gravity behind him as the Normandy veered away and began to speed back into the midst of the asteroid belt to wait to be contacted and take full advantage of its stealth technology.

His battle rifle sat comfortably against his shoulder as he scanned the area towards the few doors leading into separate sections of the base, surprised at the total lack of attempt at repelling the intruders.

"Mustn't have any physical watch towers?" Garrus mused.

"Garrus, you hang back, equip your Widow rifle; eyes on the closest door. Tali, send a drone to the door on the left, stay on my six."

The two followed the Spartan's order without any form of disapproval, and John began his approach to the centre door with his squad mates lagging in his wake, covering the positions he'd order.

Halfway toward the door, the three halted at a several meter tall transmission tower, "This is the source of the signal block," Tali explained, leaning over a control panel to examine its functionality.

"Will disabling it give away our arrival?"

Tali looked to the Chief in thought for a moment before looking back into the control panel and shaking her head, "I don't think so."

"Then shut it down," John ordered seamlessly.

Tali nodded and waved her omni-tool across the console. It shifted colour from orange to green in response, and she stepped back with a nod to her new squad leader.

They reached the door without any form of opposition and intuitively Tali was working over the doors locking mechanism with John's bulk crowded in front of her in the event that the door opened to hostiles. After a brief moment of the alien woman's tinkering, the door slid open to an airlock room no larger than a standard elevator.

The three crowded in and shut the door behind them to enable to Tali to start working on the locked inner airlock door ahead. This one opened almost instantly, and a grey armoured human soldier was revealed to them. He took a step back in surprise at the opening of the airlock and the presence of the three intruders but was quick to begin to level his Avenger assault rifle at them.

John stepped forward with the speed of lightning, whipping a hidden combat blade from his forearm and striking it into the side of soldiers head with enough force for the metal of the weapon to easily shatter through the helmet and end the life of the man underneath.

John caught the body and dragged it back into the airlock within four seconds of having been revealed to the threat.

"Spirits…" Garrus breathed in shock at the instantaneous and silent killing.

"His reaction suggests that this black op has gone rogue. Assume Shepard is captured and all people here are hostiles," John explained of the action without any form of qualm as he wrenched his knife from the dead soldiers head and wiped the blade clean on the fabric of the dead man's neck seal.

"Keelah…" Tali likewise exclaimed at seeing the cold lethality of their latest crew member in up close combat.

John crouched into a more comfortable position and shuffled his weight forward until he was within the airlock doorframe again. He peered around the corner, "Corridor clear," He checked to his team as he turned his gaze back to them, the fact that they were shocked by his actions only just becoming clear to him.

His golden visor first found Garrus, who'd already disengaged his helmet and wore a somewhat wide-eyed expression. As Garrus realised that their temporary leader's eyes were on him, he clenched his jaw and checked his Widow. The Spartan gave him a nod of approval but extended a hand over the stock of the rifle.

"We're going to proceed with this silently. No firearms unless you have silencing attachments."

Garrus and Tali both nodded their understanding as they checked their emotions over the matter of killing Human enemies up close and personal.

And like an armoured ghost, John rounded the corner with barely a whisper of sound and by the time Tali and Garrus had rounded the doorframe into the corridor John had already reached the end of the space and was in the process of killing the second soldier to come their way without releasing so much as a clunk of metal on metal.

Unlike the first, John didn't bother to hide the body and continued at a fast walk. Tali and Garrus increased their pace until they'd caught up with him rounding another corner and taking on two more guards. Tali rushed into the fray with an omni-blade folding out from her ignited tool on her wrist.

Her aim struck true, and she found her curled knuckles pressed against the abdominals of a balding man with an enraged and terrified expression. She steeled her resolve and twisted her wrist, changing the direction of the blade within the man's abdomen and wrenching upwards until the energised weapon struck her enemies heart.

She quickly withdrew her weapon and stepped over his falling body to cover the Spartan as he continued onward through what looked to be a recreational room. He halted at the door at the other side of the room and Tali flanked him, Garrus hanging back and silently dragging the bodies into corners in a meagre attempt at hiding their intrusion.

"You alright?"

Tali turned her eyes to the source of the voice and found the imposing golden visor regarding her, the Spartans posture having shifted slightly to address her before entering the next likely location for a hostile engagement.

"It's alright to feel bad about this, just remember it's for the mission."

Tali's eyes widened in surprise at the empathetically spoken words of the warrior; she knew that her actions had been smooth, flawless, and even efficient, and there was only one physical tell that gave away her dismay at this form of combat.

"You can…" She fumbled with her words, her eyes growing even wider.

The helmeted head simply nodded as the Quarian's alien fingers motioned to her face.

"You good?"

She sucked in a deep breath and calmed her racing heart, wanting to put the revelation of someone having looked on her face into her thoughts for later, and once more clenched her jaw and nodded.

That seemed to be enough for the soldier, and he turned back to the door and palmed the button. The instant the door started to move, he did too, shouldering his way through the opening and into the midst of a group of six soldiers, one of them encased in orange holographic shapes.

Tali acted as quickly as her leader as his blade met the neck of his first victim. Her left hand flashed across her omni-tool, and a zap of electricity shot through the group and impacted the man with the holographic tech armour. He yelled in pain and made to dive away from the group.

John instantly honed in on him as the largest danger from Tali's prioritising of him and threw his knife. The engineer saw the attack coming and rolled to his left, bellowing in pain as the full twenty centimetres of the combat knife embedded into the back of his shoulder.

And pain and injury didn't stop him, however, as he lurched back to his feet and sprinted for the exit, calling warnings into his now lit omni-tool as he did, "Intruders! We have two intru-"

His transmission was cut short with the bellow of an anti-material rifle and half of his chest exploding outward.

John sent his fist crushing through the faceplate of another soldier as Tali un-holstered her Phalanx pistol and sent a trio of rounds punching through the chest of the next closest threat. Another shot from the sniper rifle sounded, and yet another life ended, followed by another short cacophony of Phalanx shots.

"Looks like we're going loud now," Garrus announced from the room behind them with the sound of fresh thermal clips being loaded.

John paced to the partially destroyed body of the commander of the former group and retrieved his knife, wiping it unceremoniously on his shoulder before returning it to the well-hidden sheath in his gauntlet and retrieving the rifle off his back.

Tali was the first to advance this time, her pistol raised and the laser sights engaged. She rounded the doorway that the enemy engineer had been aiming to reach and squeezed off a burst of rounds. John stepped around behind her and knocked her off her feet, like a protective angel of death, as a stream of bullets meant for her dissipated across his shields in a splash of energy, depleting his shields by half.

It barely took the Spartan a millisecond to target the first of the ten guards lined up in a traditional firing line and pull the trigger. He fingered the trigger again and moved onto the second target in satisfaction as the final round tore through the chest cavity of the guard.

The striking sounds of a Mattock soon joined the roar of gunfire, and two more enemy guards fell with Garrus having knelt through the doorway to sight on the enemy from relative safety. Tali once more began to fire down the corridor having rolled back to her feet and taking shelter somewhat behind the protective mass of the Chief.

The heated exchange of gunfire ended after a matter of seconds with the entire enemy group dead in pools of blood in the middle of the corridor. John sighted past the defeated enemies and tagged the five visible doors along the corridor on his HUD.

"You good?"

Tali looked at the source of the repeated message from earlier. She gulped down her guilt over her poor choice of actions that drew the Spartan into a hail of bullets to protect her. "Keelah… Sorry!"

"You good?" He repeated again, this time breaking his gaze from the possible routes that new enemies might come from to make what she thought must be eye contact.

She gulped again and nodded.

He nodded back in acknowledgement and stepped forward to give her room to rise, and was already proceeding toward the next closest door. Garrus rushed along in his wake with his Mattock aimed down the corridor to cover the break in the Chief's area of focus.

"Project control room," Garrus read out as they reached the door and halted.

John's eyes found the blatantly written information in bold font above the door and looked to the Turian. Garrus nodded and raised his rifle in preparation, Tali, following suit with her Geth shotgun.

The super soldier slapped the door control and brought his rifle to bear. The sound of Garrus and Tali firing held his finger from pulling his trigger, waiting for someone to fire back. Another moment of silence followed, and he stepped into the room, identifying seven bullet-riddled bodies on the floor around the doorway with a large open scheme room beyond.

Garrus and Tali were quick to follow him in, and John took note of the range of screens across the walls and consoles spread around the room, "Tali, find Shepard."

She seemed just as comfortable with following his order as he was with giving it and jogged toward the set of consoles in the middle of the room. "Garrus, keep your eyes on the door. When Tali has found Shepard, I'll retrieve him and return here."

"Noted," The Turian answered as he swapped back to his Widow and knelt behind the bench with the barrel of his rifle resting on the top aimed at the door.

"He's sedated in the med bay!" Tali called, her voice surprised and relieved at once. Her fingers continued to dance across the display, and the screen behind her lit up with camera feeds and a layout of the base. "If you go back into the corridor, turn left, and continue to the end the door there leads into the med bay."

John didn't need any more info than that. He turned and marched back through the door before breaking into a sprint. The thirty meters between him and the opening med bay doors was reduced to several seconds of rapid movement from his superhuman speed.

He dropped into a slide as he reached the doorway and sheared through a group of guards in a thundering crash, breaking legs along the way until he came to crashing halt against yet another console. The sound of gunfire filled the air, and on instinct, he sprung from the ground with his legs and fingered the trigger of his rifle in return fire.

Blood sprayed across the walls and ceilings from his bullets tearing through soft tissue; the guard's shields having already been depleted by the force of his mass ramming through the group. The Spartan didn't slow to assess the damage and kept his barrage of bullets reigning into the group of soldiers now trying to back out of the room he'd just forced his way into.

His rifle clicked as the magazine emptied, and in a flash, he'd dropped the weapon and retrieved his pistol. Its muzzle flashed in rapid succession, and more blood and flesh was torn from the bodies of his targets, leaving him standing in a silent and bloody med bay.

John kept his eyes on the group of ten bodies on the floor for a moment before feeling sure that they were dead. He slapped his pistol back to his thigh and hefted his rifle from the floor, fluidly slapping a new magazine into the weapon.

"You think you've won? You've won nothing!"

The angrily shouted words brought John spinning around until he saw a grey haired woman looming over Shepard's sleeping form in another room, separated by a thick glass barrier.

"The Reapers will arrive! And you can't do anything to stop it!"

The Spartans memory jolted as he peered closer at the woman's face and put the entire situation together. Shepard had successfully rescued Kenson from the Batarians, but she and her project had been indoctrinated, but her purpose for capturing Shepard alluded him.

"This can end peacefully," He voiced his attempt and delaying anything the woman might do as he did his best to gauge the strength of the glass that separated them.

"Nothing can end peacefully for you! You will never know the beauty of the Reapers!"

John knew a threat when he heard one, and didn't waste a single millisecond in launching himself at the glass, his rifle repeatedly kicking against his shoulder as he unloaded the entire magazine against it to weaken it before he impacted. His plan worked perfectly as he slammed into the glass and it shattered around him, and his weight continued forward unopposed.

His boots thudded heavily onto the floor on the other side of the glass barrier, and he readied to launch himself again. His weight shifted forward from his landing, and once more he was rocketing through the air, faster than Kenson could hope to keep up with, having produced a previously hidden syringe and swinging it toward Shepard's throat.

Just as the Spartan had hoped, and expected, he reached Kenson before she could enact any plan. His right hand gripped her by the throat and held her aloft with enough pressure to turn her face red. She swung the syringe at him instead of her previous target, but the injector crumpled against the armoured plating of his shoulder that he'd raised to deflect the attack.

He squeezed her throat tighter again; her eyes watered and veins stood out on her brow and temples, and a moment later her lids shut, and all of the fight left her body. John dropped her in a heap on the floor and gave a nod of approval to himself as her chest gently rose and fell in an unconscious intake of air.

John turned to the still sedated Shepard on the operating table and carefully pulled the drips from his arms. The Spartan applied a small amount of pressure to the points that he'd pulled the drips from until he was sure that the tiny wounds wouldn't continue to bleed, and as he removed his grip Shepards eyes fluttered open. "Chief?"

His voice came out hoarse from having been sedated for over a day. He sat up in a rush, and instinctively reached for his head at the resulting blood rush, "How long has it been?"

"Relax, Shepard, we're here to extract you. You've been gone for a little over a day," John explained, stepping aside to make the unconscious Kenson visible to Shepard.

The Commander nodded and took a deep breath before swinging himself off the table and launching himself through the shattered portal that the Spartan had entered through. "Your work?" Shepard asked, gesturing to the pile of bloody bodies on his way to an armour locker on the far side of the med bay.

"Yes, Kenson was going to kill you."

Shepard opened the locker to find all of his gear stacked neatly, and he turned to the Chief, "Thanks, I guess I owe you one?"

John instinctively wanted to scoff at that, the sheer number of people he'd heard say that to him to no apparent result was boggling, so he opted to simply shrug.

Shepard took the cue and began strapping his armour back onto his body, speaking without turning from his task, "Who's we?"

"Garrus and Tali are in the control room, I ordered Joker to come find you."

"They all followed your orders? Even Miranda?" Shepard queried whilst strapping his shin guards on. He wasn't greeted with any verbal answer and figured that the Chief had given another response by way of a shrug. Like how John had put the picture together for how Shepard's mission had unfolded, Shepard put his mission together.

Obviously, the team had succeeded in their little mission on Illium but to the ire of Miranda's grip on authority and Chief gaining respect from the crew. Then he'd spoken with Joker, Tali and Garrus, and they'd proceeded to come find him.

It was almost mutinous, and under any normal military circumstances, he'd be enraged by it. But his leaving Miranda in charge of anything was always down to her position with the Illusive Man, and he knew very well that no one at all aboard the Normandy besides himself liked her to any extent.

And he didn't want to think of how things would have gone if he'd been kept sedated past the point of the Reapers arrival. "Have you seen the countdown clock!" Shepard demanded as the thought occurred to him and he swung from his task of fixing his shoulder guards on.

"What countdown clock?" The Chief asked in return, sparing a brief glance around the room.

"You haven't seen the artefact?" Shepard followed on with another question as his hands finished their work on his armour and he clamped his weapons back to his body.

Receiving only the shake of a head, Shepard marched past him through the smattering of bodies into the corridor. John followed until they reached the next closest door and Shepard nodded to it. "You suit has a full range of sensors doesn't it?"

"Yes," John answered simply, looking to the writing over the door that simply read 'Artefact.'

"I want you to see who our enemies will be. Go look at the artefact and record everything."

The Spartan and the Commander squared off for a moment, reading the other before John nodded and keyed the door. It opened, and he stepped through, taking in the architecture of the Reaper device pulsating in the middle of the room. He compared it to Covenant structures and thought it less advanced looking.

He sidelined his thoughts and approached, turning on every sensor device within his suits considerable array of inbuilt equipment. The pulsating light within the artefact increased in speed, and then John's head was full of images, showing thousands of the aquatic looking starships flooding into the star system and reaching for the Milky Way through the local Mass Relay.

The vision left his mind a moment later to another alien yet not voice speaking in his mind, " _Another enemy to besiege our mantle!"_

John shook his head clear of the voice and the images and turned to Shepard, waiting within the doorway with a scowl on his face. "You'll fight with us to stop them?"

The Spartan didn't hesitate in turning to face the Alliance Marine, "We won't let them win again."

Shepard turned as much of his scowl as he could into a smile and a nod and turned back into the corridor and headed to the control room. Obviously, he'd shared in the vision that had just been shown to John. "They use some form of Cherenkov radiation in their artefacts," John explained as he shut off his sensors and noted the simple bits of science he understood that scrolled across his visor to be stored for later.

The Spartan couldn't see it, but this only made Shepard frown more deeply as they entered the control room over yet more bodies. It understandably frustrated the soldier that a Human from another dimension had so much more advanced knowledge, equipment, and technology.

He knew of Cherenkov radiation, it had been known about for over a hundred years, and yet no one until now had been able to isolate that it could be the key to how the Reapers spread their signals.

"Commander! Are you alright?" Garrus called, raising his weapon away from the two allies entering the room.

"Thanks to the three of you, I'm good," Shepard answered as he relieved his face of his frown and replaced it with his normal all business expression. "See that?" He said, pointing to the counter on the wall above all of the consoles and screen. "That's when the Reapers arrive. We're going to destroy the Mass Relay."

John wasn't remotely phased by the explanation, reading the clock at one day and sixteen hours. Destroying the enemy's only means of fast travel around the Galaxy was the best, and only, tactic available. The morality of it maybe destroying a small colony belonging to a species which were the enemy of every other species in the galaxy didn't come close to bothering him.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy," Shepard started as he stepped up to Tali and keyed on a series of radio controls. "There is about to be a catastrophic collision of an asteroid with the Mass Relay, you must evacuate the system! I repeat, the Mass Relay will be destroyed! You must evacuate!"

"Commander?" Tali asked blankly as the concept of destroying an entire system showed its effect in the visible size of her eyes and the blankness of her body language.

John summoned up a map of all the known Mass Relays within his visor and quickly assessed the action. He looked to Garrus first, then Tali. "Using this Relay, the Reapers could travel all over the galaxy within several days of arriving in this system."

Silence reigned in the room for a tense minute. It was broken by the crackling of Joker's slightly garbled voice over Shepard's omni-tool. "Shepard! The whole system got your transmission. Hundreds of ships are leaving the planet and heading for the Relay. I'm moving in to pick you up."

"I'll do it," John offered, stepping toward the console only to be waved off by Shepard.

Shepard's eyes met the golden visor for a moment before shifting to the thruster control button. He only regarded it for a moment before pressing it and giving Tali a light push to get her moving ahead of him.

"Chief, you lead the way."

John gave Shepard a firm nod and proceeded first out the door, his rifle, as always, raised and ready within a possibly hostile environment.

 **X**

"So, you were saying?"

The Spartan withheld the sigh of vexation and the head shake of suppressed anger, and instead adopted the most content voice he could intentionally pose, "Yeoman Chambers, I don't believe I was saying anything."

Kelly's brow knit together in a momentary flicker of annoyance, but as her personality commanded, the moment of negative emotion was washed away by a calm smile. She tried to somewhat edge around John's towering form to stand between him and the starboard observation window that he was dutifully standing at, with most of the squad gathered in the room, watching the huge form of the derelict Reaper that they were currently docked with.

"So how have you been getting along with the crew and squad? How does being here make you feel?" She persisted with bright and hopeful eyes.

The slow manner in which the armoured behemoth turned his head to regard her perfectly relayed his incredulity at her persistence. Garrus snickered in amusement from the nearby couch. John looked around to see a myriad of smirks and smiles from the assembled squad.

It strangely invoked a sense of happiness that even off the battlefield, his presence was bringing unity and happiness to the team. And he was woe to admit it, but he was very impressed with the creative and clever ways in which Kelly continued to press personal discussion with him.

Almost a full day earlier they had jumped away from the Batarian owned Bahak system, leaving it in waste as the Project finally came to fruition and the asteroid base destroyed the Relay. Miranda had first set her attention on Shepard, expressing her happiness that he was alright and they'd succeeded, but then had managed to turn that against John in laying accusation of mutiny at him.

John didn't exactly disagree with the accusation, but on the same hand, thanks to his disinterest in her leadership and his taking the reins; Shepard was alive, and they'd slowed the Reapers considerably. But surprisingly, it had been Kelly who'd stood up for the newcomer with a string of psychological notes about him which she'd somehow managed to accurately pinpoint despite the very little exposure John had to her.

"I have been getting along with the squad and crew very effectively-" John began.

"-Most effective team leader yet!" Mordin interrupted with genuine enthusiasm.

"And don't forget how fast he is at killing bad guys!" Kasumi added on with a sly grin parting her lips from her casual leaning position in the doorway.

"Or the way he says 'Fuck you,' to the Cheerleader," Jack said with an approving and malicious smile.

"Or blowing up that Mass Relay!" Grunt concluded to the group's addition with a rumbling chuckle.

Kelly held her hands up and stepped back from being in front of the armoured man and looked across the group. "You all know that I make it my personal priority to help all of the crew, I'm just trying to help."

John looked from the corner of his eye the proceedings of the group -while Shepard, Miranda, and Samara were delving into the depths of the Reaper- and found the contrasting situations incredible for how close they were.

Jack was in the beginning stages of unleashing some form of slur with an excited glint in her eye, but Garrus spoke over her first –like John, having seen the look- "We know Yeomen, you have helped all of us in one way or another. Just give the Chief a break, he's just not as talkative as the rest of us."

"It has always been uncommon for me to have any kind of extended conversation with anyone who isn't a Spartan or AI," John immediately agreed with Garrus and his form of defending his newest comrade in arms.

"Yeomen Chambers," Thane interrupted from beside Kasumi, preventing Kelly from adding anything else. "What were you own words about myself and how social I am?"

Kelly looked upwards in thought for an instant before the recollection hit her and she made eye contact with the Drell, "That as a Human it could always be difficult to fully imagine the minds of other species, especially when an individual from that species has been raised to be a weapon."

Thane nodded and looked from her bright eyes to the Chief who was making a point of only facing the Reaper beyond the window. "He might be Human, but he is of a different world, and he was raised to be a far more lethal weapon than myself."

Kelly gave Thane a long scrutinising stare before looking to the armoured man before her. Her eyes softened, and she didn't voice that Thane's explanation was exactly why she felt such a need to try and get the super soldier to open up.

"Something's happening!" The Spartan declared moments before the ship shook and the clunk of the airlock separating was heard.

"Reaper systems appear to be powering up." EDI declared via the room's speaker. "Shepard has acquired the IFF and is currently en route."

John spun on his heel and nodded to Garrus and Thane as he strode to the exit. "Garrus, Thane, we're providing cover fire."

Neither of the Normandy squad mates contested the order and filled out after him toward the elevator. "Chief, we're coming too!"

John didn't slow at Tali calling after him, and his chosen two as she and Jacob jogged to step into the elevator before it closed. "Don't worry, we'll follow your orders Chief."

John nodded to Jacob in acceptance as the elevator began its short trip; his selection of Garrus and Thane had purely been for their notable marksman skills. "Vacuum class suits, meet me at the airlock."

The doors opened, and the soldier marched out and toward the cockpit without hesitation, Tali close behind him, and the remaining three making a short jog toward the armoury to gear up. John looked over his shoulder as they neared the cockpit and saw the lack of weapons in the Quarian's three fingers hands.

Without a second thought, he detached his pistol from his hip and hefted it toward her. Tali's bright eyes met his visor for but a moment before taking the offered weapon, leaving John's hands free to relieve his back of his rifle.

"Chief! I think that thing woke up when Shepard got the IFF. Apparently, they're coming back with a disabled Geth too!" Joker called over the pilot's chair as the pair quickly marched along the gangway.

"Acknowledged. Section off the cockpit, we're opening the airlock to provide support, move into the easiest place for Shepard's squad to jump from."

"Aye aye," Joker called as his fingers went to work on his console and the inertia dampeners pulsed through the artificial gravity to adapt to the sudden movement in the vessel. A blue energy field sprung up behind Jokers chair and on the gangway right behind the pair, and the airlock sprung open.

"Are there any tethers?"

Tali looked at the back of the Spartans helmet as he entered the airlock and thumbed the door release for the external door with his rifle already raised and ready. "No, Chief. That's not really what this airlock is for."

John didn't spare Tali a fast answer, and Garrus, Thane, and Jacob clattered along the gangway through the energy field to join them in the airlock. "Thane and Tali, you're jumping to the Reaper with me, Garrus and Jacob, you're staying here to provide extra cover fire from the airlock."

An unseen series of silent nods followed, and John vaulted from the edge of the airlock into the zero gravity. His momentum carried him through the zero gravity until hitting the gravity of the Reaper and he rolled on landing on the edge of what he figured was a typical Cerberus design gangway.

He sprung back to his feet and turned to see Tali and Thane skidding to a precarious halt a meter behind his landing spot on the very edge of the torn apart gangway.

"You two; stay here. I will advance in and cover their retreat, you will supply cover fire when we draw nearer and assist Shepard get the Geth into the airlock."

"Got'ya, Chief," Tali nodded and knelt with his Magnum hefted and aimed along the railing. Thane simply nodded and levelled his Incisor rifle in the same direction.

John turned back toward the heart of the Reaper and took off, already sighting on a collection of wiry human-like bodies hauling themselves up onto the path. He unleashed a barrage of bullets as he sped near and was pleased with seeing how easily dispatched these new form of enemies were.

More gunfire sounded directly ahead, and a large bulkhead door to the left hissed open, and Miranda dashed out, her tempest submachine gun up and firing in his direction. John dove and rolled out of the way, calling as he did, "Friendlies!"

"Chief? What are you doing here?" Shepard's voice called as he and Samara rounded the doorway with the limp machine creature hefted between them.

Miranda knelt and pivoted around her two retreating comrades and once more fingered the trigger of her weapon, downing a group of the husk-like humans.

"Assisting," John replied comfortably as he stood behind Miranda and levelled his rifle at one of the larger and slower moving creatures that appeared from some unseen duct above. Unlike the husks, this creature didn't drop from a handful of bullets, despite the chunks of it that his bullets were ripping off with each impact.

Blue energy swirled around Miranda and rocketed along her arm until impacted the creature in a cacophony of detonations. The monstrosities still very human and haunted face roared at the pair assaulting it, and the strange cannon mounted on its arm took sight on them and fired.

John cursed the timing and knocked Miranda to the floor as he stepped over her to take the brunt of the force of the freight train of explosive impacts heading their way. He dropped his weight forward the moment before the final shot hit him and grunted in exertion and pain, feeling as thought he'd both been punched by a Brute and had an arm wrestle with it in the same moment.

And a bolt of blue energy sped at the creature, this time from by his ankle as Miranda had crawled slightly from the Spartan's shadow to strike back. Like the first attack, it yielded no result beyond the monstrosity roaring in rage. But that moment it took to roar was just enough for John.

He put the pain from the biotic bolt to the back of his mind and in three massive vaulting strides was within reach of the threat. His hand balled into a fist and hurtled into the underside of the arm that had been morphed into a cannon. His strike snapped the underlying cybernetics and bone in a loud crunch, and he caught the dangling appendage, stepping back and wrenching it with him, totally removing it from the body of its original owner.

He raised the cannon and brought it swinging down like a giant steel club into the head of the creature, pulverising the disturbed human expression it wore and leaving only a mutilated shattered skull with its cybernetically laced brain crushed within.

"Move!" John roared as dead threat began to topple, revealing the waves of dozens of husks charging from behind it.

He followed his own advance a second later and turned to follow after the burdened Commander and Asari. He was silently glad that Miranda had heeded his called order as she caught up to her leader ahead of him.

A series of distinctive gunshots overshadowed the sound of the howling husks behind him. He crested a small flight of stairs behind Miranda to see Tali pulling the trigger of his pistol again. He practically felt the bullet fly be mere centimetres from his shoulder, but within the same heartbeat heard it impacting something very close behind him, and one less howling voice was within the roar of haunted husk sounds.

A second later several three shot bursts joined the new range of gunfire, and then single shots started whizzing by the group into the assembled horde of husks behind them.

John saw Shepard and Samara with the inactive haul reach the edge of the causeway and spun around onto his knee with his weapon raised and firing. Without any real attention to which husk or which part of their bodies received bullets John started tearing into the still approaching horde.

His magazine clicked empty, and fluidly he reloaded and resumed firing, resolute in the face of the approaching enemy that despite the constant losses they were taking seemed to be perfectly able to replenish their ranks from the depths of the Reaper.

"Chief!"

John spared a brief glance over his shoulder to Tali racing away from the edge of the causeway toward him and Miranda launching into vacuum behind him. "Time to go!" She called breathlessly as she drew nearer.

He agreed with her, seeing Miranda landing in the airlock. The Spartan surged to his full height and pivoted -firing all the while- toward the Normandy's inviting airlock.

Tali had read his body language before he'd even began to turn and was already facing back where she'd come from. Both of them reached the edge of the causeway at the same moment and launched into the vacuum awaiting them in the same moment.

John slapped his rifle back across his back and wrapped his arm around Tali's waist to ensure that they'd travel to the Normandy at the same speed. The pair thudded into the airlock, with John rolling awkwardly along the grated floor to avoiding crushing any of the packed in squad.

"We're all in Joker!" Shepard shouted toward the cockpit.

The external door instantly slid shut, and the sensation of the inertia dampeners promised them all that they were on their way to escape.

Despite the action of the Reaper being left behind them, there was to be no reprieve, as Tali hauled herself back to her feet and stood over the downed Geth. John and Shepard acted in the same instant, but John's enhanced speed had him wrapping his arms around Tali's gun arm and chest before Shepard could close the final step between them.

"Don't shoot it, Tali."

"Let go of me!" She shrieked in apparent rage as she lashed her head back into his chest and tried to muscle her arm and John's magnum downward to aim at the synthetic being.

"I get it!" He implored but instead of releasing her, lifted her slightly off the floor to remove even more leverage from her. "I read your history with the Geth. This thing doesn't deserve to be killed though, not unless it attacks you."

"He's right, Tali!" Shepard agreed with a cautious expression to the Quarian woman.

"What!" Tali roared, the rest of the squad by now had cleared out of the airlock and were observing the confrontation from the gangway beyond. "These THINGS took my people's homeworld! They killed my people!"

"In self-defence, to try and live themselves," John cut in coldly without any room for debate within his words.

Even within his hold, Tali froze, and her eyes widened before narrowing in anger. Shepard read the signs quicker, and spoke before she could, "If it had been a biological slave race, would it be any different?"

"Of course it would be different!" Tali reacted hotly.

"How? They're alive, they want to keep living?" Shepard contested immediately.

"Shepard, turn it on," John advised over the top of Tali's head.

"Shepard, there might never be another chance for anyone to have an inactive Geth?" Miranda announced herself, stepping back to the edge of the airlock. "Imagine what could come of-"

Shepard silenced her with the simple waving of his hand over his shoulder as he peered cautiously at the sentient machine on the floor. He looked back up to Tali within the super soldiers grasp, she'd since given up trying to muscle her way out but was instead giving Shepard as imploring an expression as her eyes could muster through her veiled mask.

"I'm turning it on." Shepard declared after the moment of thought, reaching forward with his omni-tool activating.

"Turning on extra security measures," EDI announced over the speakers just as Shepard's omni-tool touched the top of the machine.

With strangely mechanical fluidity with its light bulb eye lighting up the Geth looked up at the group around it and rolled its weight forward into a standing position. There was a moment of silence, and a brief stare off between the Geth and Shepard before the Commander spoke.

"Are you going to attack me? Us?"

The almost emotive plates around the top of the Geth's eye twitched, and he looked from Shepard to Tali and the Spartan behind it. "No."

"You said my name aboard the Reaper. Have we met?" Shepard pressed on, cautious and curious in the same beat.

"We know of you," It answered blankly, clearly waiting for Shepard to provide more prompting.

"You mean I've fought a lot of Geth?"

"We have never met," the construct countered, quick enough for it to be obviously defensive.

"No, you and I haven't, but I've met a lot of Geth."

"We are all Geth," It started to explain, "And we have never met you. You are Shepard. Commander. Alliance. Human. And fought Heretics. Killed by Collectors and rediscovered on Old Machine."

"Heretics…" Tali made to speak.

"What do you mean, Heretics?" Shepard spoke over her to the Geth.

"Geth build their own future, the Heretics asked the Old Machine to give them the future. They are no longer part of us. We were studying Old Machines hardware to protect our future."

"So…" Shepard mused, clearly having as much trouble as his squad behind him –besides the just arrived Mordin- with digesting the information. "You aren't allied with the Reapers?"

"We oppose the Heretics, we oppose the Old Machines. Shepard-Commander opposes the Old Machines, Shepard-Commander opposes the Heretics. Co-operation furthers mutual goals." It explained all too logically.

John wanted to give Shepard credit for how well he was handling the short but information dense conversation given his history and knowledge of the Geth.

"Are you asking to join us!" Tali exclaimed incredulously behind the Geth.

John swiped his magnum from her fingers and lowered her back to the floor, taking a short step away from her, but keeping a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes." It was a matter of fact answer without any trepidation.

"Then what should we call you?" Shepard quickly asked by way of cutting off any opportunity for Tali to accuse the platform of murder.

"Geth."

"I mean you, specifically?"

John looked to Tali as she gritted her teeth and looked at the floor shaking her head. "There are no such thing as specific Geth platforms. They're a collective intelligence."

"Creator Tali Zorah is correct. There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform." The Geth confirmed.

"My name is Legion, for we are many," EDI interrupted the exchange via the speaker system.

"That seems appropriate," Shepard agreed.

"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, we accept this as an appropriate metaphor. We will integrate into the Normandy," Legion agreed and supposed in the same beat. "We anticipate further exchange of data."

"Shepard, the IFF will take several hours to install," EDI announced herself again.

The rest of the crew gave Legion cautious glares, besides Mordin who looked to be barely holding back his scientific excitement, before slowly turning and heading back into the heart of the ship. Tali too made to leave while giving the Geth an angry glare, but John quickly closed his left hand around her shoulder.

"What now!" She snapped angrily, spinning to face him.

John looked over Tali's hooded head to Shepard and the strangely curious' looking Legion before meeting her eyes again. "Old wounds need to heal. You should speak to it with Shepard."

 **I'm skipping hashing out Legion's loyalty mission. I'll flashback a few details from it in the next chapter, which will be assault on the Collectors.**


	5. Chapter 5

**And I'm back!**

 **Sorry for the ages long delay! I got ME:A and all of my normal writing time went into playing every nook and cranny of that game. I'm leaving a review for the game at the end of this chapter for those curious to my opinion of it.**

 **This is the final chapter that will hug canon events!**

 **Review responses:**

 **The Space Wizard Storybook:  
Well you certainly have my thanks for such high praise! And yes, I am intentionally rushing the plot along for two reasons; 1: I hate rehashing things that happen in cannon, which will change more dramatically after this chapter, as this is the last largely cannon chapter. 2: I enjoy the premise of this story and I want to be able to finish it before I lose interest in it to my own original sci-fi I'm writing.  
I'm still not entirely set on where I'm taking relationships with John, but right now the imminent direction is simply humanising him more and developing him more as an emotionally inclusive character where I could possibly add in a more romantic interest for him.  
But you can clearly see I have leanings toward Tali to fill that possible role. **

**Mandalore The Freedom:  
Please refer to above review response. : -)  
I do want to develop him and a romance, but at the same time as quickly as I can without cheapening it too much. This is due to working life, time constraints, and a previous writing commitment that tends to draw most of my writing time.  
But please feel free to review any and all story suggestions! **

**Blaze1992:  
Please refer to above responses. : -)  
And as to the timeline position. I felt that to be the best starting point for throwing in a curveball. However, I didn't look too deeply into that, I had a whim and went with it.  
I do want to keep his development as "realistic" as I can whilst still rushing some things through.  
**

**CaedmonCousland:  
As we chatted out in the PM's, I'm really glad that you put such a level of thought into discussing the ideas I've expressed in this story.  
As we chatted out, and as I supposed; (for other readers who actually read these responses)In some ways, descriptively towards weapons and ships, Mass Effect can be superior, and in other ways Halo can be. But from a science to sci-fi believability ratio, Halo is more believable by real world standards (in my opinion), and as such, they are scientifically sci-fi incompatible, so certain notions that relate to weaponry, ships, biotics and such will translate in certain ways. **

**Pretorious:**

 **Thanks for being such a supportive reader! Makes writing all that much easier for FanFiction! : -)  
As I mentioned in my response to CaedmonCousland, he and I actually chatted out our perspectives over the weapons, ships, travel and whatnot.  
And to simplify my perspective on it all: The science that explains and propels Halo is more realistic to real world notions than Mass Effect's, and yet they are in the Mass Effect world in this, so my translation is that the weaponry of the Halo universe is indeed superior in its power and functionality.  
But SlipSpace is a slower form of travel, despite being much more diverse in its usability. But I'll address the issue of SlipSpace in coming chapters ;)  
This is the last chapter I'm writing that hugs close to cannon, from here on out I'll start to vere away from and my updates will increase. Writing too close to cannon is such a drag!  
But I will introduce ME:A at least in some form in this story. Maybe as a mention or maybe as meeting Alec or other possible characters prior to their departure from the Milky Way.  
I'm going to even hint at the possible plot direction for a sequel if I get around to it ;)  
**

**Chapter Five  
:: Crux ::**

John's jaw was set and his eyes determined as he looked out across the expansive surface of the Collector station from the Normandy airlock. Shepard and the squad were presumably still in the briefing room; both discussing the plan and being roused by a speech.

It was still the kind of thing that he needed to learn to get into and be a part of. It was something that he had seen a great many times amongst Marines and ODST. But it wasn't something that Spartans did. They would assess the information available and run a tactical analysis on it, the best course of action would be chosen, and then they would get to it.

He mentally flinched as he reminded himself that these weren't Spartans and that many weren't even human. The thought brought an ironic flicker of a smile to his lips as he mused for a second that he was less human than even Mordin –in mannerisms only though.

But it served to remind him how different a circumstance he found himself in still. How it was forcing him to assess himself psychologically, philosophically, and even spiritually. He felt a wave of pride in how he was acting on his moral imperative of his own accord now, even in light of the small conflicts that manner had already presented him.

First in earning Tali's ire when he'd restrained her over the Geth and advised it be awakened, then secondly in the immediate follow-up mission to the Geth station.

The Geth, Legion, had explained the problem of the Heretics and the virus that they had possession of, and Shepard had been more than pleased to act on that information as the Reaper IFF was installed. And as John was learning; Shepard, despite his leadership and military skill, gauged many of his squad choices on emotional and psychological merit.

On the mission to the Geth station, Shepard had purposefully ordered John and Tali team up in covering him and Legion to the source of the virus. It was an action that was entirely intended to make them, or Tali, overcome any anger from earlier by working together to keep each other safe.

But that hadn't flowed as smoothly as Shepard had clearly envisioned. John had been surgical in his approach to the Geth station, and the group was barely even threatened as they sought out the virus. Then John had reminded them of his presence further by suggesting to Legion that he use the virus to integrate the Heretic Geth back into the greater –and more peaceful- collective.

He'd deduced this to be the best possible course of action, especially in light of being threatened by a galaxy-consuming threat and his own personal experience with peaceful AI.

This had earnt him daggers for eyes from Tali. Even though just prior to the mission she'd spoken with Legion, with Shepard to moderate, about the history of the Geth and Quarians. Of the Geth's surprising openness to the possibility of peace, but trepidation over the statistical likelihood of the Quarians attacking again.

It had even managed to passively assert its personal value as an individual, or collective of individual programs speaking through one voice. It had all culminated into Tali accepting Legion into the crew and the two of them sharing intel to send back to their peoples as a token of peace.

At the same time it had managed to deeply unsettle the young Quarian woman who'd spent her life being told that the Geth were the greatest enemy ever to exist and that they must be conquered for the fairness of the Quarians.

John understood her mindset on the matter fairly well. Except that the Quarians had been in a form of Cold War with the Geth for generations; whereas he had grown up in an excruciatingly active war. He couldn't help but find the irony in how he dealt with things changing as compared to her; a much more socially normally adapted person.

The Spartan would be fast to admit that he had xenophobic inclinations, and he would be fast to ask if anyone could blame him given his history. But none of those inclinations were based off any form of pure xenophobia or speciesism. It was the sheer simple fact that his entire life had been in fighting for the survival of humanity against a hostile group of aliens.

And old habits of wanting to kill an alien for the sheer fact that it was alien based on the statistics of his life it was more than likely hostile were hard to suppress. But even at the end of the war with the Covenant, he had set aside his differences with the Arbiter, and by extension, the Sangheili under his command, and formed a combat linked friendship.

If he were able to do that and was able to slowly but surely adapt to the aliens here, then why couldn't Tali adapt to accepting that she –that the Quarians- were wrong in what they tried to do to the Geth, and that the Geth were, in fact, the true victims.

He scrunched his brow in thought, wondering if he'd stumbled over a little revelation about pride and morals. If the Quarians did know that they'd done moral wrong and that in a sense they did deserve the punishment that the Geth dealt them, but their pride wouldn't allow them to accept it.

He'd read that the Quarians were once not only militaristically powerful but had a wealth of culture and art that was in demand across the galaxy. To have risen so high only to fall so low. It was the exhibition of species-wide pride with a rotten core.

He shook his head to clear the frustration, despite being unable to. A fact that was frustrating within itself. He felt as though he had his suit and personal emotional health in common with Tali, and that in a way they'd bonded silently over it. He, like her, was incredibly astute at reading body language, and in the short space of time, they'd known each other before Legion's inclusion aboard the Normandy they'd shared dozens of unintentional and intentional messages by subtle way of body language.

John's eyes refocused from the strange organic looking structures across the surface of the Collector station to the slight shade of his reflected eyes on the inside of his visor. He saw something briefly that he hated; the flash of fear. Fear of failure and loneliness.

He'd succeeded back in his reality; he'd won and saved his kind, at the cost of forever being separated from the few who he truly cared about. And since arriving here, John had surprised himself in both his willingness to adapt to a totally new world as a new kind of person and his ability to adapt into the growing form of his vision.

He felt a bond with Shepard, somewhat like he did for the Spartan II's who he'd never been extremely close with; as a brother in arms fighting passionately for the same cause that he was. They could communicate with each other on an instinctive level that had them keyed into the others directions.

And he knew that the only things that could destroy that brother in arms bond were either indoctrination or death. Tali, on the other hand, he'd somehow managed to peek into her emotional core, and she had his, and the tiny yet powerful feeling of a bond it had given him scared him.

"The other Humans talk too much!"

It was Grunt's deep and low gravelly voice, and as John now understood, it was him expressing that he too shared a kind of instinctively similar connection with the Spartan. That it was a form of compliment, from one warrior to another.

"Not you though, Spartan! You just get ready to kill stuff. Heh heh." The Krogan finished with clear satisfaction at the sight through the open doorway as he leant against the doorframe opposite John and hefted his Claymore shotgun.

"Thanks, are they almost done?" John answered, thankful for the distraction as he stretched to his full height and tilted his head to look down at the shorter Krogan.

"Shepard is going to break the squad into three to kill more Collectors! Going to count my kills against everyone else's, Ha!"

John read the message through the excitable aggression. He'd spent far too long as a very specialised soldier and leader to not be able to instantly piece the most likely tactic together; the entire squad was too small to make it remotely effective in such an environment if it were to be broken down into three smaller groups.

So there were obviously going to be two main groups, he assumed that one would be lead by Shepard and that the other would be a diversionary group, leaving one or two squad members to perform some mission critical task.

"Chief?"

John pivoted to see Miranda cringe as she called out to him, Shepard and the rest of the squad following further behind.

His silence prompted her to speak as she neared him, and Shepard neared her. "I had a tactic in mind… I know that you're a super soldier and have some form of genetic altering."

"Fucking cheerleader has inferiority issues because you're better than her!" Jack announced with a cruel grin and a bark of laughter.

John didn't disagree with her assessment but checked any reaction as Shepard gave the tattooed woman a disapproving frown.

"How fast can you move, Chief?" Shepard asked for Miranda. Making it clear that it had obviously been her supposed idea, to begin with.

"I can run up to fifty-five kilometres per hour, what job did you have in mind for me?" John asked with his gaze pointedly aimed at Miranda, not caring at all for the attitude that permeated her every moment exposed to anyone.

"Spit it out, Cerberus-tart. Couldn't imagine a freakin' idea that suits Cerberus more," Zaeed ground out abusively from the back of the group in a rare expression for the entire group to hear.

"Miranda?"

The catsuit-clad woman looked to Shepard for a brief moment before looking back to her intended target. "Chief, I was thinking that you could proceed ahead of the group. Take out as many Collectors as you can, you'll be most effective that way."

The developing emotional side of John felt tempted to laugh at her idea and request, the true meaning of what she was saying was that he was an asset that she didn't like and that he'd draw fire, which would keep the group safer and heighten their chance of success. What she didn't know, was that he truly would be most effective if on his own.

"Chief? I can't ask you to do this?" Shepard said slowly, stepping into the airlock doorway beside the super soldier and pure Krogan to survey the alien base beyond.

"Damn right you can't," Jacob muttered from the midst of the group, who all wore disapproving expressions.

Many of them had come from solitary tasks before this mission, but the heart of Shepard's leadership had been in uniting people, not sending them off alone.

"What's the mission directive?" John asked the Commander, ignoring the uneasy feeling that the group were radiating.

Shepard raised his wrist, and his omni-tool activated into a screen, showing the base layout. "Those two paths there," he nodded to the two highlighted routes. "One squad to each path, one is a distraction while the other is to help a tech expert get through a thermal conductor system to bypass the security."

John peered at the displayed layout for a few seconds before straightening back to his full height and fixated his visor into Shepard's chagrin expression. "I'll clear the hall spaces on Route A and double back to provide overwatch."

Shepards chagrin expression turned solemn, as it dawned on him the cold decision he was pushing, and how it betrayed all of his normal tactical principles.

John didn't seem to share in Shepard's, nor the squads, trepidation to the action, and hefted his rifle off his back and skipped from the safe confines of the ship to the alien base below.

"Shepard…" Tali hissed disapprovingly as she rushed to the edge of the airlock next to Grunt and her Commander to see the armoured warrior already disappearing down the closest corridor.

"Indeed, a very honourable warrior," Samara echoed as the first gunshots sounded out.

"I have never seen an operator with as much skill or dignity as the Master Chief," Thane agreed in his own way from next to Samara as he, like her, hefted his rifle and made it clear that they were ready to embark.

"Shepard, we're going. Now!" Tali declared in a manner that was full of a fire that she never normally possessed. She jumped from the airlock with Grunt in her shadow, laughing his agreement of engaging in battle sooner rather than later.

"Legion, you're going into the vents. Garrus, you're commanding the second squad. Move out!" Shepard quickly ordered as he hastened after the two who'd made it clear that they were in his squad.

Shepard charged across the surface of the Collector base to the tunnel as Tali jogged deeper in with Grunt in her wake, both of them with weapons drawn, and all of them in the wake of a cacophony of gunshots that grew more and more distant.

"Keep up, Shepard!" Grunt roared mirthfully as they reached the bottom of a ramp and rounded a corner to a scene of carnage.

Shepard's eyes snapped to Tali as her Geth shotgun reported two quick shots at a Collector that was flying in on its insectoid wings. Most of the projectiles tracked in a gentle arc until impacting and ending the threat, sending it falling into the depths below.

"First ventilation mechanism has been unlocked already," Legion declared over the radio, "Proceeding to the next checkpoint."

"First wave down, looks like the bulk of them might be after the Chief," Garrus's voice followed Legions over the radio.

"Only twelve in this group," Mordin confirmed after Garrus.

"I'll see you all on the other side of the security doors."

"Shepard, husks!" Grunt called out the incoming threat as a wave of bodies lurched up from a crevice near the ventilation pipe.

It wasn't lost on him that amongst the dead Collectors that littered the floor there was a multitude of husks. Shepard realised that he hadn't heard nearly enough gunshots sound off from the Master Chiefs weaponry for even half of these kills to be from projectiles.

His eyes locked onto Grunt and Tali both bringing their shotguns to bear on the husks and move toward them just as his ears caught the distinct high pitch sound of a wire snapping. "Get back!" He roared as in an instant he recognised what that sound meant.

Against all of his fears, both of his squad mates immediately followed his order and dove and rolled back as twin explosions engulfed the swarm of human-husks. The concussive blast caught all three of them and threw them heavily into a barricade.

Grunt was the first to move, lurching upright with his gruff laughter returning. "The Spartan sure knows how to kill these things!"

"And almost us," Shepard growled, standing back up and pulling Tali with him.

But just as he had done moments earlier, she looked at all of the dead enemies all around them. "Obviously, he got surprised by the husks, he probably put trip wires on those crevices so that they wouldn't sneak up on him."

Another trio of distant gunshots echoed from a nearby tunnel, and the three shared a nod to proceed, this time with Shepard managing to advance at the head of his squad with their eagerness having been checked by their allies ruthless trap.

"Shepard-Commander, proceeding to the security doors; all ventilation locks so far are clear."

"Keelah… He's fast."

Shepard didn't disagree with Tali to any extent, but switched his mind to professional mode and increased his pace passed the scattered Collector corpses.

Many of them clearly dead with hand to hand combat that had left them with caved in skulls, severely broken limbs, necks bent at angles that marked their end, and deep slashes.

"Incoming!"

Shepard brought his rifle to bear on the group of five Collectors flying in from the left while his two squad mates brought their own weapons right. They fired without hesitation, halving the enemy's number before being forced into cover behind one of the many low barricades that dotted the Collector base.

"Grunt, fortification, take them out!" Shepard roared over the cacophony of weapons fire.

Grunt clearly heard him though, as a hexagonally patterned shield fizzed to life over his bulking form. The Krogan threw himself over the barricade with his shotgun reporting toward the Collectors. The shots weren't well aimed but managed to bring the end to another of the insect-like creatures.

His shotgun barked again, and another fell before finally all of the remaining collectors turned their attention to the threat of the Krogan.

It was what Shepard had countered on as he surged up from cover, his Mattock sighted on the closest Collector and firing. Tali followed suit with her canifex pistol, firing off a flurry of shots until no Collectors were left.

"Shepard? Do you read?" The Master Chiefs gravelly tone finally spoke to them via the comms since entering the Collector base.

"I read, what's your situation?" Shepard answered as he continued forward around another corner and another green lit display over a vent junction.

"I'm beyond the security door in some form of central chamber. There are stasis pods with crew and colonists here. Do we have the manpower to rescue them?"

Shepard winced at the way the words were put and realised that rescuing both his crew and any other surviving colonists would require him half his squad to escort them back to the ship. "Can you get them out of the pods and keep them safe until we get there?"

"Yes," Came the Chiefs instant answer.

Shepard stayed silent a moment to think as they spread a group of husks with rounds before continuing through another large room.

"Something's happening! I'm getting them all out."

XXX **With Master Chief – 5 minutes earlier XXX**

For the first time since arriving in this reality, John's combat prowess were being tested. These Collectors made him think of flying jackals. They had the agility of the avian aliens and the tactical ability of spec ops Sangheili with the tenacity to match.

With every encounter they'd improve their tactics against him, quickly learning his mechanical fighting style to end them as quickly as possible. He poked his head up from behind the rendered organic-looking-metal low wall he was crouched behind as his radar pinged, and saw five more of the insectoid creatures buzzing in from above to inspect both the scattered piles of their comrades and the recently toggled heat exchange vent.

He ducked down as he caught the preemptive motion of the alien group looking up, but his instincts told him the truth. He knew that it was too late to hide his presence, so he launched himself over the low wall with his battle rifle reporting from his right hand.

He cursed his timing and underestimating of the enemies adaptability as instead of reflecting off the average blue kinetic shields or impacting carapace, the bullets pings off purple barriers around each creature. These weren't the first of the biotic form of shields he'd encountered since entering the Collector base, but he'd quickly learnt that they were generally much tougher than the normal electrically charged kinetic ones.

Whereas he'd come to learn that the biotic powers and attacks of this reality had little to no effect on him, biotic forms of defence certainly held true. He disregarded the background niggling desire to question further into the whys and hows of biotics and their lack of effect on him, but the flashing muzzles and directed beam weapons from the aliens kept his mind grounded in the battle.

He tucked his rifle into his stomach and rolled out of his landing into cover once more, but instead of staying static he quickly launched himself again. The Collectors clicked out and hissed in surprise to him immediately emerging from cover and were far too slow in bringing their weapons to bear on the superior soldier.

Before the first insectoid even had its rifle even halfway aimed towards John, he was within its guard. He lashed out with the butt of his rifle in a viciously powerful strike. True to what he expected, the purple field of element zero powered energy rippled around where his strike hit, but it didn't save the creature from the kinetic energy from the strike as it stumbled back.

John didn't allow it to gain any distance from him, he quickly stepped forward, swinging his rifle over his shoulder onto the magnetic clamps and bringing both of his fists down free of the weapon. His down strikes met the Collector's skull with a meaty 'thwack', and all of the strength promptly left its body.

John didn't allow it to fall peacefully in its death, however, as he quickly snatched the beam rifle from its clawed grasped and kicked it into the closest comrade. He turned to the next Collector just in time to see it squeezing the trigger of its own rifle and giving him the time needed to sidestep the tracer rounds that would have depleted his shields to half; a lesson he'd dangerously learnt just ten minutes earlier.

The Spartan lashed out with his leg in a heel kick, making the offending alien stumble back and giving John the time to squeeze the trigger of his freshly acquired beam rifle. The super-heated beam of particulates surging forth made the weapon vibrate intensely within his grasp, making the fact clear that these weapons were designs to be held by the same aliens he was fighting.

A sharp fizz filled the air as the beam sheared through the Collectors biotic barrier and melted clean through its chest. John mentally counted the seconds as he tucked and rolled away to avoid any fire from the remaining two Collectors he'd left standing.

He came back up to his feet several meters away, besides the edge of the platform that dropped off onto nothing but mechanisms hundreds of meters below. John grit his teeth in frustration as he was cast in a wash of yellow-red light as one of the Collector drones heaved upwards into the air and convulsed as energy shook its body, "Assuming direct control!"

This was the second time he'd be facing up to the creature that declared itself as 'Harbinger,' and he wasn't looking forward to it. The first time after deciding killing it with bullets would be a waste of ammunition he'd resorted to emptying the thermal clips of every Collector weapon in the area on it, and then final he'd managed to kill it by plunging his hand into its abdomen and leaving a primed frag grenade inside.

He acted quickly and sighted on the still normal alien drone and fired the beam weapon, aiming to reduce distractions while dealing with the far more dangerous enemy.

His luck held true, as the drone fell under the sustained fire the moment that Harbingers glowing orange clawed toes landed back on the floor. John instantly shifted his focus to Harbinger, but the weapon only hissed in response.

He cursed where his luck fell short and collected a frag grenade from his belt and lobbed it low to roll to the Harbinger's feet. It exploded with enough force to hide his advance. He barrelled through the cloud of dust and smoke and found purchase on the possessed alien's arm.

He wrenched it toward him with his left hand and sent his right palm smashing into the underside of the arm. The result was a grinding crunch of bone, but no shriek of pain or defeat. Instead of falling away from him, like so many of the Collectors already had. The creatures' left clawed hand grabbed John around the throat, and with a pulsating thrum of its wings it took off.

"Human, why do you resist! I am your genetic destiny."

John glanced down to find that they'd left the platform behind by several meters, not letting the concept of defeat deter him, his eyes once more met the strange and almost Flood-like eyes of the possessed alien. "Go to hell."

With his right hand, he swiped upwards to break the hold around his neck while with his left he reached around the insectoid carapace and grabbed a fist full of one of the buzzing wings. As Harbinger lost its grip on his throat, he ripped one of the wings clear off its' back and made his best effort to kick himself away from the weight of the flying alien.

He lurched his body in mid-air and twisted to face the wall that he was falling to meet with his arms outstretched and his fingers splayed. His adrenaline kicked in and time slowed to a crawl as his fingertips brushed the pocketed metal surface.

As he'd hoped and barely planned, his fingers caught his weight, and he crashed into the wall, jarring his jaw as he came to a smashing halt. John didn't spare himself the luxury of catching his breath and shifted his weight to look for the Harbinger over his shoulder, only to catch the quickly fading light from the creature as it fell into the depths below.

Again, ignoring the desire to take a deep breath and a moment of rest, he sought his original location out. His neck arched as he looked upward, and spotted the edge of the platform that he'd been fighting on moments earlier. Without any hesitation, he began to climb upwards, mentally noting that the numerous fist sized indentations dotting the metal cliff face were more than likely for the mobilisation of the husk creatures he'd been surprised and flanked by earlier when they'd managed to arrive from every direction at once.

John sighed in frustration; his climbing speed, just like his walking, jogging and running speed, was phenomenal, but it had revealed to him that a diagonal chasm through the artificial metal cliff cut him off from returning to where he'd been hefted from.

Moving in the only direction available to him, he followed the edge of the sheer cut through the cliff higher and higher until he was looking down onto the platform and the ventilation shaft below. He peered down for a moment and thanked his still solid luck that the vent junctions mechanism was still green and untampered with.

As he always did when assessing options, he spared a moment to consider what his body could handle and wondered if he attempted to jump back toward his original location if he could both make the distance from the very awkward jump from the wall and if he could survive.

He knew that he'd certainly survived far worse, but he also knew that he'd never attempted such an awkward jump. John slightly shook his head at the lack of options and settled for continuing his ascent up the wall. Within moments John found himself at the mouth of a man sized crevice descending into the wall at an angle.

His helmet lights activated and he peered into the opening. Seeing that it was clear of hostiles, he quickly hauled himself higher up the wall before swinging into the crevice feet first.

His descent began immediately as his weight on the slick hardened metal surface sent him rocketing down the crevice despite his reaching hands attempts at controlling his speed. Before he knew it or had any grasp of controlling his speed, he rocketed out into the air before crashing heavily into the ground on his backside.

True to years of training and experience, John instantly rolled back to his feet with his battle rifle already seeking targets despite the throbbing pain from the hard landing on his back. After a few moments of silence meeting his presence he let out a long low sigh of relief at the reprieve from threat and battle and looked around to get his bearings.

John's eyes instantly found the two vehicular-sized metal doors to his left and drew up the mapped path on his HUD. He let a small smile play across this parched lips at the discovery that he'd managed to end up on the other side of the door that had halted his progression earlier.

Not finding the Geth embodied AI Legion or any of the squad, John casually slung his rifle in his arms and turned away from the security doors, looking to the next major feature. He cautiously marched to the end of the tunnel, the light from beyond drawing his curiosity and need for assessment.

His eyes adjusted quickly and he found himself looking into what he mentally concluded to being the central chamber, an internal structure built on Forerunner proportions. He drew his eyes away from the reaching distances and turned left, looking along the direction that the path continued in.

The same pods that dotted the distant ceiling were assembled nearby, drawing the Spartan in. Noting the total lack of Collectors, John slung his rifle onto his back and jogged toward the pods.

His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a familiar face through the dappled glass casing; Kelly Chambers, she would have been hard for him to forget, given her sheer persistence in talking to him despite his attitude.

The Spartan had truly never expected to see the young woman, nor any of the crew, again, after the ship had been boarded by the Collectors on a short mission following having helped Legion with the Geth Heretics. John tucked the instant vexed thought away about Shepard ordering all military personnel off the ship for what would have been an easy mission for three troops.

"Shepard? Do you read?"

"I read, what's your situation?" Shepard's voice came back almost instantly.

"I'm beyond the security door in some form of central chamber." John began, stepping back from Kelly's pod and pacing several steps along the path, "There are stasis pods with crew and colonists here. Do we have the manpower to rescue them?"

"Can you get them out of the pods and keep them safe until we get there?"

John took several more quick steps along the path and peeked above a collapsed pillar, sighting no Collectors; he nudged his comm, "Yes," He answered simply, waiting for a clear direction from the man who commanded the ship and thusly would be in charge of any extraction of the civilians.

He walked several meters further, stopping at the very last pod; a young woman was unconscious within, not wearing Normandy garb.

'One of the remaining colonists,' John thought simply, looking nowhere in particular as he awaited Shepard's answer. But as though his mere presence had triggered something, John heard a dull background hiss and mechanical whir vibrating from beneath the pod.

Not knowing a great deal about the Collectors, but knowing the simple facts that they abducted colonists and they were controlled by the Reapers, and his own experience with species consuming lifeforms, John didn't waste a moment as he postured himself over the young woman's pod.

"Something's happening! I'm getting them all out." He declared over the radio simply by way of excusing himself of his actions possibly being a wrong doing.

His fingers closed around the edges of the metal lining that framed the glass front and wrenched the mechanism towards his chest. The metal groaned in protest, but John persisted and yanked hard on the screen to the sound of the metal buckling, and the screen lifted free.

John straightened and tossed the screen to the side and quickly stooped once more, his arms looping around the woman's middle and hefting her from the pod just as a putrid yellow-green liquid began to pool in the base of the pod and melt the soles of her shoes.

Realisation struck John that this was the fate of anyone who entered any of the Collectors stasis chambers. He quickly set the woman down next to the chamber he'd rescued her from and moved to the next one. He sent his fist smashing into the side of the screen in a flurry of rapid blows until the metal similarly buckled and he was able to easily lift the screen from the pod.

He spent the next ten minutes moving from pod to pod, smashing through the locked screens one at a time and retrieving the unconscious crew from within.

"Chief?"

He looked up to the face from the final pod, finding himself feeling surprised at his own relief that she was alive and unharmed. "You're safe now, Kelly."

Even saying her name sent a pang of emotion through his heart. He knew that Yeomen Kelly Chambers was absolutely nothing alike to the Spartan II Kelly, but he'd never met anyone else with the name and just uttering it managed to dredge up emotions he'd never realised he held this dear.

"The Collectors came… They took us?" She asked, her eyes dazed and wandering, not focused on anything.

"Don't worry, just rest."

"Master Chief!"

This time his title was called with much more urgency, and he gently propped Kelly against the edge of her pod and stood to his full height, making himself visible to the heavily breathing group that were walking his way.

"So much for that overwatch." Miranda jabbed with a scowl.

John resisted the urge to insult her in any fashion, and his patience rewarded him by way of Legion speaking first.

"If Master Chief had not proceeded ahead of the group getting through the security doors would have taken an additional nineteen minutes and twenty-two seconds."

"Shut up, Cheerleader. Chief drew most of the bugs away before we even started moving, and we're all here right? Even got the fuckin' crew out."

John allowed the smallest of smiles to tug at the corners of his lips at Jack's brash stating of his actions. He was still not properly adjusted to a normal form of comradery. Spartan's never had need of such openly supportive behaviour, as it was always a rule of thumb that anyone of the II's would back each other up with everything that they had.

"You're going to have to send most of the squad back with the crew and colonists to keep them safe," Thane analysed aloud.

It was a thought that obviously both John and Shepard had already considered as they nodded subtly, especially seeing well over a dozen civilians slowly drawing themselves to their feet.

A range of displeased expressions passed through the squad at the sudden announcement, each of them had their own unique hatred of the Collectors and had spent months preparing for this moment.

"Scans of the chamber show that there are seeker swarms active at such a density that the countermeasures likely won't work," Mordin added his omni-tool glowing and displaying streaming data to him.

Miranda pulled herself from her intentional distance from John and peered over Mordin's shoulder at his readings. "A biotic barrier should be enough to hide us from the Seekers."

"That's nine hundred meters of maintaining a barrier!" She exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Shepard," Samara stepped forward, resolute as ever, "I would be able to maintain a small barrier for that far. Large enough for at least four."

"I could do it too… In theory, any biotic could," Miranda chipped in, to the baleful glare of Jack.

"Shepard," Garrus called attention his way as he nodded back to the door that they'd just emerged from. "Why don't you pick your squad, and I can keep another team here to hold off any attackers while a few can escort the crew back?"

"That's a good idea, Garrus you'll lead that team," Shepard agreed, looking from one face to the next. "Jacob and Kasumi, you two will escort the crew back to the Normandy. Chief, Tali and Thane, you're coming with Samara and I."

"Fucking great…"

The group turned to the muttered words from the former convict as she shuffled awkwardly on the spot. "Gonna have to hear out another fucking speech."

Shepard didn't suppress the amused smirk at the hot headed biotic before looking over the assembled group. "We've done the impossible in getting here, now let's do the unimaginable by wiping out the Collectors!"

The Commander nodded approvingly of his own short speech and looked back to Jack, "Short enough?"

She smirked her approval before looking to John, standing impossibly still and silent behind Shepard. "Keep em' safe, big guy."

Inside his helmet, John frowned slightly in confusion. External to his armour, Shepard likewise frowned in a similar confusion, which was somewhat reflected by the rest of the squad. Both John and Shepard had been witness to small moments of Jack's ability to be sentimental, but never so openly.

"I'll keep them safe," John promised simply with a nod of his helmeted head.

"Right, let's move out!"

With the called order, John turned on his heel and set off at a slow jog down the ramp that lead toward a bright gaping doorway barely visible through the swarms of the Collectors Seekers fluttering through the air. He looked down to his left as Tali, Thane, Shepard, and Samara flanked him, and then looked back up just in time to see the first swarm spiralling towards them.

Their pace came to a grinding halt as they rounded a section of machinery and Samara threw her arms into the air to direct her biotic bubble of energy. John resisted the urge to stare at the visible energy and contemplate the impossibility of element zero, at least within the reality he knew, and instead put his mind to work as the sound of wallowing husks met his ears.

"Husks!" Tali called, as the first wave of them appeared over the edge of the catwalk.

Seven almost instant gunshots sounded a beat later, and chunks of the human husks heads' were blown away by Thane's perfectly targeted pistol fire. He'd barely had a chance to watch the Drell in action, but he'd read up on Thane's dossier and was expecting to see surgical combat efficiency; so far he wasn't disappointing.

"Don't slow down," John growled lowly, taking a position directly in front of Samara and moving forward at a slow walk.

His choice of becoming the Asari warriors living shield was instantly rewarded with three tracer rounds deflecting off his shields in his midsection that would otherwise found Samara's chest. The clatter of Avenger rifle fire filled the air a second later as Shepard targeted the flying Collector drone who'd fired and it quickly fell into the depths below.

"More husks!" Tali shrieked in warning as she strayed a step too close to the edge and one of the abominations grasped at her ankle as it clambered over the edge.

The offending hand was quickly separated from its arm from two three round battle rifle bursts. Tali stumbled back, and John fired two more bursts toward the edge of the catwalk, knocking two more of the husks off, before shifting his aim back to the direction that they were moving in as a dozen Collector drones flew in from above.

Thane took up the slack on their flank, firing round after well-placed round into the stream of husks that sought to flank them. Tali's bursts of Geth shotgun fire soon joined the mix, and John and Shepard formed a human shield side by side in front of Samara as they marched forward, weapons blazing as they ploughed down the offending Collectors.

"Running low." John dictated in the same fashion he was taught while in any squad. Unlike being with his Spartans, however, he was not tossed any new magazines, but rather everyone kept their eyes trained on the enemies ahead and around them and kept moving.

His finger squeezed the trigger one last time, rewarding his final bullets with a Collectors unshielded head. Before the creature had even hit the floor, John had clamped his rifle onto his back and raised his pistol, already firing at the next target.

"Scion's advancing from below!"

Both John and Shepard keened their heads to sight on the called threat that Thane had spotted first, and despite not having any experience with whatever a Scion was, John was instantly able to identify the first hulking form to crest the dip in the pathway.

"We can't slow down!" Samara chanted through gritted teeth. John looked over his shoulder for a moment to see the woman's skin tone several shades paler from the apparent exhaustive task and dripping with sweat.

"Tali, cover our rear and flank, Thane, take out any unshielded Collectors, Samara, try and move a little faster, Shep-"

"-Distract the Scions?" The Commander finished for the super-soldier.

John simply nodded in agreement as the group seamlessly merged to his orders. Tali orbited from Samara's right to her rear, two of the distinct discharges from the Geth shotgun reporting her at the task requested. Thane took a position to John's right with his Incisor sniper rifle raised and jumping against his shoulder as he began his methodical style work of picking off any Collectors.

Shepard sprayed the hulking creatures with rifle fire to draw their attention and John sprinted forward to the edge of the biotic bubble that Samara held aloft while still advancing. The first Scion met the bubble just as John did and he tucked his right shoulder in and craned his posture as he slammed into it.

The monstrosity gurgled in its version of a roar as it stumbled back from Johns freight train assault. Instead of crumpling beneath the force of his charge, as the Spartan had expected, the Scion found its footing and brought its shoulder mounted cannon smashing down onto his back.

The force of the blow completely shocked the Spartans mind, realising he'd massively underestimated this threat as he smashed face first into the ground with the wind knocked from his lungs. Despite the concussive pain racing through his back, John found enough awareness to quickly roll to his left, avoiding a point blank firing of the Scions cannon.

John sprung out of his roll back to his feet with his Magnum drawn, only for the second Scion to have flanked him when he'd been down and bring its own cannon smashing into his side. The force flung him into the mass of the first Scion again.

John caught himself against the deformed creature, cursing mentally at the beeping in his helmet telling him that his shields were depleted. He instinctively brought the barrel of his pistol up and pushed it against the Scions' chin. The weapons bucked in his hand as he fired until the magazine clicked empty and all that remained of the Scions' head with shattered shapes from the base of its skull.

He wasn't rewarded with any immediate victory, however, as once more concussive force exploded into his body, being transferred through the body of the dead Scion he was still pressed against. He identified the only sound that he didn't know and figured it to be the firing of the third Scions shoulder mounted canon and that in his killing the first one, the one furthest from the fray had no issue with firing on its dead comrade.

The Spartan was flung back again from the force of the cannon firing, but before even crash landing something crashed into the back of his head and dropped him on the ground.

"Chief!"

The Spartan heard the concerned call from Shepard through a dazed mind and picked the sound of his rifle firing out of the cacophony and tried to recall the Commanders last location.

Awareness came flooding back into his mind, and he rolled over and bounced back to his feet, wiping a trickle of blood and grime from his forehead as he rose to his full height. John's bright blue eyes widened at the realisation that his helmet was gone, as was his pistol, and that he was totally unarmed in close proximity to the two scions.

"MUST KEEP MOVING!"

Samara's roar removed all concerns for his own personal safety from Johns mind, and he sprung back toward the Scion that had clothes-lined him. This time, instead of meeting the creatures centre of mass, John grabbed onto its cannon and wrenched downwards.

The flesh and synthetic muscle around the Scions shoulder tore with a wet crunching sound, but it continued its attempt to kill the Spartan, swinging its more normal arm toward him. John swiftly stepped within the haymaker strike and sent his right fist smashing into and through the Scions face.

He retracted his fist from the crushed head and flicked his hand absently to shake off the residual flesh, blood, bone and synthetic matter.

In the background, John heard Tali's voice above the din, "Don't worry Chief! I've got your helmet!" He felt a pang of appreciation to the young Quarian woman and momentarily empathised with her understanding of his attachment to staying helmeted.

The called advisement from Tali lifted a surprising amount of concern from Johns mind as he refocused on the third and final Scion that advanced into Samara's biotic bubble. A string of rounds from and a concussive blast from Shepard sent the creature stumbling back, and two three round bursts from Thane destroyed one of its knees.

Shepard sprinted forward before John could with a glowing red blade unfolding from his lit omni-tool. He struck forward in a pseudo fencing pose, impaling the Scions throat with the red blade.

None in the squad were offered a reprieve as Samara continued down the ramp that lead to the now very near glowing doorway and a swarm of Collectors dropped in ahead of them. Thane met Johns expectations and almost instantly downed three of the twelve new arrivals.

Shepard's well-placed shots joined the mass of rounds cutting through the air and took out another two, and then they too had advanced into the bubble. John looked over his shoulder to find Tali, concerned at her lack of shooting and found her directly in front of Samara with her shotgun attached to her back and a pistol awkwardly balanced in her right hand as her left struggled to comfortably carry his helmet.

Seeing his gaze directed at her, her eyes shifted in shape slightly, signifying a smile, before she looked past him to the Collectors and she managed to squeeze off two quick shots that whizzed right by him.

John's posture followed the rounds, and he launched himself forward once more into the advancing trio of Collectors. As soon as he was within reach, the forward most one began to shift into the strange glowing possessed form, marking the Spartans first victim.

His armoured right fist lashed out and collapsed its throat before the strange Reaper technology could complete its transformation and armour its weak points. Before the Collector even began to fall Johns left hand closed around the throat of the Drone to his left.

His grip closed and the flesh and cartilage within the Drones neck turned to pulp forcing its head to loll forward. Out of the corner of Johns' eye, he caught the third Collector within melee range sighting on him; he instantly ducked and rocketed forward through his legs, closing the remaining space between them and dodging the short stream of rounds.

The Spartans left hand caught the barrel of the Collector rifle and yanked it from the insectoids hands. He caught the stock and twisted the weapon around and fired in a fluid movement that sent a burst of Mass Effect accelerated rounds tearing through the Drones ribcage.

"That's the last of them, Shepard! Quickly before more come!" Thane called from the forward side of the biotic bubble amidst a collection of downed Drones.

John glanced to the Commander and saw him likewise advancing over other bullet-riddled insectoids.

"Almost there!" Samara roared, summoning the last of her energy as she surged forward with renewed speed the final dozen paces through the doorway.

She turned amongst the group as they passed the threshold of the door and sent her biotic barrier slamming along the path they'd just cleared in a solidified state, swatting away newly arrived collectors like nothing just as Tali quickly worked over the door controls and closed the open space.

"One final push?" Tali asked through a long sigh of tiredness, turning from the door and posturing toward the de-helmeted Spartan.

Remembering that this was the first time the super-soldiers helmet had been removed, Shepard likewise looked to him. "You alright, Chief?"

John considered the question for a moment, his right hand reaching up and his fingertips brushing a shallow cut on his forehead from where he'd hit the ground. His eyes met Shepards, and he nodded. "Green to go."

"It's nice to see that you really are Human!" Tali laughed in a nervous tone as she stepped forward and offered the helmet back.

"Almost," John curtly answered with the inclination of a small smile tugging at the corners of his thin lips, pulling his tired and gaunt cheeks back just enough to show that once he would have been a normal smiling boy. He knew that neither Tali, nor Shepard, knew of the details of the Spartan program, or of whatever the Librarian had done to him.

He didn't think he was nearly as Human as he looked, and even then, he'd not had a chance to look at his own face since he'd returned from the first Halo.

The sensation that something was physically different within him had been surging through him ever since the encounter with the Librarian.

John's fingers found the familiar shape of his helmet, and he lifted it from Tali's grasp and set it back into place before redirecting his gaze back to Shepard, showing his readiness.

The Commander nodded approvingly and turned toward a series of platform located at the edge of a chasm. He advanced, Thane, Tali, and John close behind. The moment that the neared the auditory whirring of machinery declared Collector activity, and a flying hexagonal platform similar to the ones they were standing on came spinning down from above.

Shepard was the first to fire a flurry of shots off at the assembled Collectors. Tracer rounds from John's procured Collector assault rifle, and Thane's Phalanx pistol joined in moments later making short work of the aliens.

More platforms descended from above and beyond their range of vision. "Chief, Tali, take the one on the right, Thane you take the most distant one."

John and Tali both knelt at the right edge of the platform with their weapons raised as the suggested targets drew nearer. Before the floating machine even came close to connecting like the others had the two allies opened fire and blasted the Drones and one biotically shielded Collector from their offending approach.

Shepard's and Thane's fire joined the cacophony a beat later, and the now familiar sound of a Scions cannon fired back.

"Focus fire on the Scions!" Shepard roared over the weapons fire.

John and Tali were quick to answer the call as they rose from their kneeling positions and flanked Shepard, Thane already having shifted the direction of his sniper rifle to the threats.

Within moments the Scions and their escorted husks were destroyed beneath a hail of mass accelerated rounds with the group only suffering a slight loss of shields.

Shepard was the first to advance onto the platform, kicking one of the dead Scions out of the way from the only available control panel. The squad assembled around him and he pressed his hand into it; the machinery answered a second later, lifting up into the air and accelerating toward an elliptical opening in a nearby wall.

"Shepard, all of the tubes are converging into this chamber. The energy readings suggest that they are constructing…" EDI started over the comm.

But her finishing was unnecessary as they passed through the elliptical opening and saw the gigantic dangling human-shaped construction. "A human Reaper!" Shepard concluded with a horrified expression.

"My helmet cam is recording everything," John announced to the surprised face of Shepard. "They won't be able to deny this evidence."

"Shepard, it appears that the Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans, significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper." EDI continued a beat later. "The tubes feeding into the Reaper are a weak structural point, destroying them should cause the Reaper to fall."

As though on cue the now familiar mechanical whir announced the looming arrival of more Collectors on floating platforms. "Tali, Chief; deal with the Collectors. Thane take the tubes on the left side, I'll take the right."

John nodded and launched himself over the low barrier toward the connecting platform on the right. Shepard's order made perfect tactical sense in that he and Thane both had the most accurate weapons to deal with the furthest target and Tali and himself could deal with the imminent threat.

The Collectors opened up on John the moment that he once more launched himself, this time over the heightened edge of their platform that joined onto their original one at a higher elevation. Rounds ricocheted off his shields draining it by a third as he closed the distance between himself and the closest one.

He fingered the trigger of the Collector rifle in his grasp and tore a cluster of holes through the closest Collectors chest. It fell just as the one furthest away shifted into the glowing morphing form of the Harbinger controlled Drone, "Your attempts mean nothing!"

John paid the bellowing voice no mind and thought the presence small compared to the Gravemind. He kicked the dead Collector into the next closest threat, this one lit in a purple barrier. As the Collector assassin struggled with the weight of its dead comrade the Spartan levelled the assault rifle at it and held down the trigger at the same instant that on the opposite side of the original platform Tali started drumming out round after round of shotgun fire.

The Collector Assassins biotic barrier fizzed as it fell after several seconds of full automatic fire, and John lashed out with the butt of the rifle. The Collectors head snapped back with a loud crack, and it toppled over backwards. The fallen insectoid opened up the space between the Spartan and the Harbinger controlled Drone that Harbinger had clearly been waiting for, and a black swirling orb shot forward into Johns' chest.

It impacted squarely in the middle of his armoured chest and slightly drew him forward before detonating and throwing him onto his back. The alarms within his helmet blared the failure of his shields, and he sprung back to his feet despite the heaving breaths he was forcing out from the strange concussive attack.

Ignoring the burning pain in his lungs, John stepped forward, and heel kicked the Harbinger Drones knee, breaking the limb clear in half and toppling the creature. John didn't relent in his attack despite catching the movement of the tubes shielding out of the corner of his eye and hearing Shepard and Thane open fire.

He kicked again, sending the front side of his armoured boot slamming into the possessed Drone's chest and sending it sprawling. He advanced quickly and stomped down onto its neck, pulverising the flesh and bone beneath. A moment later and the glowing heat of the possession faded as the life left the creature.

The Spartan looked up just in time to see the human-Reaper roaring at the loss of its feeding tubes and falling from its cradle. Shepard didn't waste a moment; he quick marched to the control panel on the forward most platform. He reached for it and pulled it free of its housing.

The glowing interface confirmed their suspicions that it was indeed a central power hub. "Shepard, to ground team, status report?"

John, Tali, Samara and Thane assembled around Shepard as Garrus answered over gunfire. "We're holding them, Shepard!" An explosion disrupted his response for a moment before his voice continued, "But they're pressing hard, getting out of here quick would be good!"

"Head to the Normandy! Joker? Prep the engines and get ready for a quick dust off, I'm about to blow this place sky high!"

"Roger that, Commander," The pilot dutifully responded. "Uh, Commander? I've got a message from the Illusive Man, EDI's patching it through." He added just as Shepard plunged his fingers into the mainframe to begin his work in reconfiguring it to his desired destructive ends.

Samara stepped back with her omni-tool activated to relay the message, and the bust of the Illusive Man was illuminated before the ground, not distracting Shepard from his task even as he spoke, "Shepard, you've done the impossible."

"Not yet, I still have to destroy the station."

Thane and Samara both openly smirked at the blunt answer as Shepard continued sifting through the wires.

"Not necessary, I have a better option. I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors, but leave the technology intact!" The zealous leader started, his emotion clear in his tone. "This is our chance, Shepard! They were building a Reaper! That knowledge could save us!"

John stepped forward slightly to draw the attention of the holographic representation of the Illusive Man, "I have a recording of everything here, energy readings too. There is ample proof."

Shepard gave John a smirk as he turned to the hologram too. "This place is an abomination! They tortured and destroyed thousands of colonists to make a Reaper. It needs to be destroyed."

"Shepard, don't be short sighted! Our best chance is to turn the Reapers resources against them!" Once more, the Illusive Man's passion was clear. "The Collectors were working directly with the Reapers, who knows what evidence is buried there?"

"No matter what kind of technology we find here, it's not worth it. Not worth the risk of indoctrination or being manipulated by the Reapers technology." Shepard rebutted firmly.

"Shepard, you died fighting for what you believe in. I brought you back so that you could keep fighting!" The Illusive Man clenched his fist as he spoke. "Some would say that what we did to you was going too far, but look what we've accomplished! I didn't discard you because I knew of your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility. Think of the potential!"

Shepard frowned at the holographic representation and turned back to the control hug. "We'll fight and win without it, I won't let fear compromise who I am!"

"You will not destroy this base! You owe me for bringing you back! I-"

"Samara, lose this channel?" Shepard bluntly asked as he continued reconfiguring wires.

Samara complied all too happily, and the Illusive Man disappeared from her omni-tool. Tali stepped forward and offered Shepard a programming shunt device which he neatly tucked into the mainframe. The Commander fiddled a few moments longer before standing and pressing the hub back into the floor. "Let's move, we've got ten minutes before the reactor overloads and blows the whole station apart."

Once more with luck that could only suit Shepard, the platform beneath their feet rumbled, and an electronic sounding whine echoed around them. The not easily forgotten head of the assumed dead Reaper loomed over them as it pulled itself up with its massive arms.

"Shepard, the eyes and chest appear to be weak points where the lava fluid is exposed."

"Thanks, EDI!" Shepard shouted, diving for cover as the human-Reaper spewed out a globule of super-heated metal at the squad.

All four of them sighted on the called targets and opened up, making surprisingly short work of both the eyes as the two largest targets. Both of the eyes exploded in showered of sparks and red fluid, bringing a mechanical roar of pain from the monstrosity.

Before it could lurch from the platform into a moment of cover, however, Samara surrounded herself in a vortex of energy and shot a man-sized ball of energy from her arm at the weak point in the centre of the Reapers exposed chest. The biotic warp impacted and detonated with an explosion of metal and fluid.

The Reaper bellowed in apparent pain as the artificial life began to leave it. Its spine lashed up and impacted the underside of the platforms, sending them spiralling away. All five of them were thrown from their feet as the platform they were on was sent flying toward the ground. John instinctively activated his mag-boots and catch Tali as she slid past, swinging her into his chest and securing her against his.

John immediately sought out the rest of the squad and saw Shepard sliding intentionally toward the edge after Samara, and catching her just as he slid off the edge and caught his own weight.

Their descent to the tunnels bellow took mere seconds, and they crashed in an explosion of metal panels. John and Tali were the first to rise, and they both rushed over the Shepard and Samara. Thane arrived next to them, having had secured himself against a barrier, and helped lift the metal scrap off the two.

Immediacy returned to the stunned Shepard as Harbingers voice rang out from the walls above and around them. "Human! You have achieved nothing."

Shepard motioned toward the closest tunnel, "Joker, did the ground team make it?" He asked, breaking into a jog.

"All survivors on board, just waiting on you!"

Jokers affirmation of Shepards hopes lifted all the concern from his shoulders, and he broke out into a run as Seekers swarmed behind them. John matched Tali's pace, her being the slowest one so that he could assist if needed.

"Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction!"

The group raced onwards, reaching an intersection they quickly veered to the left as a squad of Collectors opened fire from the right. John slowed himself slightly, taking position behind Tali and giving her a gentle shove in her mid back to rush her along a little faster.

As they turned and headed up a debris strewn ramp, the Normandy rose above them. Its airlock door slid open, and Garrus and Grunt revealed themselves with their rifles blazing. One by one the squad cleared the gap between the ramp and the Normandy, until a part of the structured crumbled away before Tali was about to jump.

John accelerated and looped his left arm around the woman's middle before jumping the eight-meter gap and landing easily between Shepard and Garrus.

"We're in, Joker, punch it!"

Those were the words that Joker had clearly been waiting for. Not even the Normandy's powerful inertia dampeners could kick in quickly enough to brace the crew for the sudden acceleration that followed mere moments after the doors shut.

"Hitting the relay in three," Joker started the countdown as the ship bucked around them. "Two!" The airlock heated ever so slightly from the exploding station behind them. "One!" And suddenly everything became still.

The group collectively shared a sigh of relief, and they all wore satisfied smiles. Shepard was the first to leave the airlock and turn right down the gantry toward the galaxy map. "Shepard, you have new emails."

Shepard let out a bark of laughter at EDI's casual telling of the mundane news despite their harrowing escape seconds earlier. The squad turned onto the gantry behind him and slowly followed down toward the command station. John naturally didn't like the layout, it reminded him far too much of a Covenant command station.

Blind to the super soldier's thoughts, Shepard reached his email terminal and tapped the display. He stilled as he read something of obvious importance and all relief dropped from his face, and his eyes turned stone-like.

"We're heading back to the Citadel, I'm handing myself into the Alliance for the Bahak relay incident…"

"What! You can't be serious, you saved so many of them, and who knows how much you slowed the Reapers?" Tali raged instantly in defence of her Commander.

Shepard held up his palms, not revealing that the request for his arrest was addressed from Anderson. "That killed thousands, more maybe? Someone needs to answer for it."

"Otherwise, diplomatic shit storm?" Garrus supposed with his Turian version of a frown.

"I'll send all of my helmet cam footage and suit readings to Anderson," John added. He'd read about the politics of this galaxy, but seeing them in action was something else.

He'd set off bombs that had no doubt ended civilian lives and made choices in battle that ended the lives of good Marines, but they were needed to win, how could he be punished for doing what was needed to protect the majority?

"You'll be seeing him soon." Shepard started, stepping up to the Galaxy map and motioning toward the highlighted Citadel. "Joker? Take us to the Citadel."

"Shepard?" EDI began over the top of Joker's aye, aye. "Incoming QEC from the Illusive Man."

"I'd love to see the look on his face," Miranda smirked as she rounded the corner from the elevator to a range of surprised expressions. Her eyes widened at the looks being sent her way, "He wanted to preserve that station! That shows how wrong he's become!"

"Exactly," Shepard stated flatly as he marched from the command platform toward the QEC room. "Everyone, rest up and get ready for going your separate ways at the Citadel."

 **And this chapter is a wrap!  
Please review your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and curiosities.  
I'm more than happy to receive PM's regarding all manner of topics. Even if you are concerned about the direction or elements of the story, I'm more than happy to discuss why I did something the way I did, and even learn to improve on elements. **

**Now, as promised, Mass Effect: Andromeda REVIEW!**

 **First of all, GAMEPLAY:  
Do I have any criticisms? Nope, not really(Sarcasm). I actually really enjoyed the way that you could be a soldier, biotic, or tech, all at once. From a gameplay mechanic perspective I loved it, story perspective not so much… But I turned a blind eye to that to enjoy the gameplay.  
Weapons and mods handling:  
Getting used to the crafting and mods system had shit tutorials and made learning it weird at first. But once you get the hang of crafting and augmenting, you can craft stupidly powerful weapons, especially with shotguns.  
After discovering this, I opted to keep my weapons more "normal" to keep an appropriate level of challenge even playing on Insanity.  
Difficulty/beating boss-like opponents:  
My first encounter with an Architect was like, "Whoah! This will be an awesome battle!"  
Oh how wrong I was! Within a minute I realised how monotonously repetitive the fight would be. It wasn't challenging or hard, just annoying on repeat until I beat it. In all of my following Architect encounters I switched the difficulty to Narrative just to get them over with.  
The same is to be said of… The floating dudes with the light bulb floating thing going around their shield… I totally forgot their name! Not hard, just repetitive. **

**Open world style maps – Look cool as! And make you initially feel like there really is massive scale! But that fades as they too become mostly repetitive, and most of the little missions feels like rinse and repeat.  
But those issues aside, I found the gameplay to be very enjoyable, from the levelling up system to the gun mechanics to the mods. **

**Background Story/Characters/ME Trilogy Legacy:**

 **Base story to sum it up simply; trying to fit in with everyone and accept everyone's differences in the Milky Way is too hard, so instead of even trying to find a distant world to colonise in our (FUCKING MASSIVE) galaxy of billions of stars, lets run far, far away to a new galaxy because speciesism sucks Hanar tentacles.  
In my humble opinion, simple would have been better. Why could the motivation not have been so very simply based off the desire to explore beyond the known universe? Why add a speciesism aspect at all…  
Which brings in Scott and or Sara Ryder. One way or another, either of them as essentially untrained/totally inexperienced grunts. The story did not do them justice at all. They could have been much more impressive characters. As much as I understand they were intended to be "starting fresh" and built up during the game. I totally could follow that, but the rest of the Tempest crew being experienced (besides Liam) felt like it devalued that aspect. **

**The story shunts in several points that likewise devalue the previous trilogy, in a way that only actually reflects this new game as not being as well thought out. Like the ODSY drive and the explanation for it.  
And even thought I enjoyed the overarching Remnant driven story within the Andromeda galaxy, I found many points creatively vexing.  
Visually; the structures looked like a knock off from Halo's Forerunner's in almost every way.  
Story wise, pointlessly trying to aim for a cliff-hanger.  
Obviously the Remnant will play a role in the next game(s), but that doesn't seem to be reason enough to not explain some more simple points about them. Such as their reasons for such extensive terraforming/their methodology. What actually happened to them in the cluster. So on. **

**Characters and romance:  
I've only played once so far, but I played every little crevice available. I played as default Scott and romanced Peebee.  
First to sum up how I felt about the romance; deceptive in how naturally it initially seemed like it flowed. I selected Peebee as my natural choice because everything about it felt right in the game. And then as it flowed on, I realised it wasn't because Peebee was an incredibly written character with a whole lot of finesse or depth, but it was simply because she was just generally written better than most of the other character that magnetised my attention to her.  
Which brings me onto the other characters. I found them mostly underwhelming and very surface level.  
Drack: Awesome potential with his age and experience! But was barely imagined in dialog possibility.  
Lexi: The weak minded warship/exploration ship doctor who can't take someone not liking her. Personal foibles can add great depth of character, but in this case I thought it felt cheap and forced for the sake of drama.  
Cora: Dear god! How a character like this could ever be an option for a pathfinder to begin with is unsettling! (If it were real) Okay, so she's a human biotic who lived and trained with Asari Commando's for some time after reaching adulthood, so now she thinks she's more Asari than the most pure-blooded Asari alive and lectures everyone on the Asari'ness of the Asari, including Asari!  
I knew I wouldn't like her character in the start when she expressed being sorry for not being quite happy about Scott becoming pathfinder instead of her, even though she was trained for it for presumably a long time in the event of Alec's death, and instead a grunt with no experiences gets shunted into the role. Not that her character would have been fun to play as… But she was right to feel shit about it as a character.  
Vetra Nyx: I tried hard to like Vetra, and on her own she was a semi interesting character that diverged from the normal Turian, but I also felt this humanised her like how all of the aliens were humanised to the point of barely being alien. But I likewise didn't find her all that well fleshed out or interesting. A lot of potential but not enough meat or potatoes. **

**Liam Kosta: I'll call him the racially diverse politically correct character. Had a good voice actor and a decent back story, executed so blandly that I decided he must have simply been there for racial diversity and as such the PC'ness. That being said, he had some fun interactions with the other characters to listen to.  
Jaal: The man of Andromeda! One of the few characters I genuinely liked! And shunted into side kick roll. I would have rather played this game as him instead of white human space marine who despite total inexperience or natural talent is the only one who can save the day…  
I digress… Jaal has a well and simply explained back story and a diverse set of character traits that give him good interaction with all of the other characters and scenes. **

**Gil: Fun "side" character. Totally empathise with gay players with the romance options they were given. Gil was a fun character to interact with along the way, but very little draw to him. Like most of them, could have been filled out into a really diverse and interesting character who even as a straight player I'd romance just to see more depth to what could have been a really intricate character.**

 **Suvi: Do I want to go there? I feel like I shouldn't…  
Kallo: A character that was easily liked and easy to include in his dialog. Not a character I thought I'd like to chat with for dialog, but did offer up fun to listen to background dialog. **

**As to side characters: The Asari were devalued by the fact that they literally all have the same face model… This is an AAA game right? But alas, Serrisa is the one Asari in the game that I like for her shades of grey character traits.  
The Turians: For the most part, typical background Turian characters, neither bad nor good. It did vex me that Bioware still can't come up with an image for them outside of armour or armour-shaped clothes.  
The Salarian Characters: Tann for example, was vexing and interesting in what I felt was a good way. He ironically was almost the opposite of the Initiative's proviso. He was very speciesism focused, and yet he was in a position of power and had to balance out his issues with what would work as you progress in the story.  
The Krogan characters: Emotionally unstable mutated humans who turned into giant lizard people? I found them to be disappointing from the Krogans of the original trilogy. There wasn't much progressive Krogan culture for me, but mostly what felt like human-criminal style behaviour.  
Then Morda speaks and takes away any possible seriousness with that voice!  
The Humans: I found it unfortunate how Humancentric this story ended up being… But in saying that, I enjoyed the asshole that Spencer was for that kind of character throwing a story spanner in the works, and I enjoyed the little ways that Addison progressed.  
The Angara: On a baseline, I really enjoyed them as a new species. But I equally thought that they deserved more depth than they got. The whole reliance on Ryder and Humans to get anything done was a part of what I felt detracted from them. **

**Overall rating: 7/10**

 **I know it sounds like I've bashed it a bit. But it is actually quite a fun game. It's just that retrospectively the more you think about it, and compare it to ME Trilogy, the more it seems to have dropped the ball.  
Replay-ability, unfortunately for me, is very low. I might reply it once or twice over the next couple of years. But at least I'll happily reply ME 1 a few more time again (for the story not gameplay), ME 2 probably more than a few for story and gameplay, and ME 3 much more than a few for all of those things. Knock ME 3's ending if you will, the rest of the game did come out fantastically. **

**Anyway, there's my review! I don't expect everyone to agree with me, or anyone in particular to agree with me. If you've played it already, share your thoughts. If you're dubious about buying it. You'll almost definitely have fun playing it… But I'd suggest waiting for the price to go down.**


	6. Chapter 6

**And I'm back! I was two thirds through this within three days of the last update, and then work struck, again and again and again. So I really struggled to finally get around to finishing this.**

 **But anyway! As you'll see by the end of this chapter; I've opened up several new doors for the story to head in different directions with a new character to build upon from their un-fleshed existence within ME.  
You'll likely be able to tell where I stopped writing then picked it up again, I really had a lot of trouble finding the same sentiment that I started out with.  
But anywho, there will be two or three more chapters until the Reapers arrive. Things will go in whole new directions from ME Canon between now and then. **

**Please note, this is a filler chapter!**

 **Review responses:**

 **Ferox Pretorious:**

 **As a little spoiler, I wanted to kick off from the end of Halo 4 not just for the path that it set Chief on and with removing Cortana, but also for the path that it put other Halo elements on. As vague as that might sound, it will make sense in a chapter or two. : -) And I absolutely agree. I feel as though I am depicting him in a manner that expresses his growing connection to his own personal/emotional state of being without fundamentally changing him.**

 **Zealous Spectre:  
If we were talking about solely Halo 1-3 Chief and not counting novel expressions of him, then I'd agree with you. But then again, even in late game Halo 2 and Halo 3, we saw John expressing himself as more than just a vessel for the gamer, and as a character with central beliefs and emotions. And especially since then, Halo 4 and 5 did an excellent job in developing him as a human and emotional character, and it's stated that will be developed further yet. On a note to Cortana's line from Halo 4 about which of them is the machine, in my opinion, that wasn't about the fact that she was the more emotional one, it was about his ongoing path of self-discovery. **

**CaedmonCousland:  
This chapter is where it starts to head away from canon, but it is something of a filler chapter, which is needed to be following the end of the ME2 arc. You'll probably see what I meant in the notes about where I lost some of the sentiment in the writing after work disrupting my writing for a while.  
And tell me about that scan function! The first third of the game you almost feel like you'll be cheated if you don't try and scan everything, then real quick you stop caring.**

 **The Space Wizard Storybook:  
ME1 thoughts: When it came out, it was awesome! It doesn't stack up to modern day things at all, besides from the core storyline and the original creativity in it. But I still play it once in a blue moon and love it all the same for sentimentality sake. Actually, I still love and replay the entire trilogy from time to time. My only issue with ME trilogy is how you actually had a choice in the ending, since that was just never going to work in the traditional execution. At the very most, in my opinion, they should have only had two choices or either destroy or control.  
Since those were both concepts that were driven all through the trilogy. **

**Chapter Six  
.:: Fractures ::.**

Two weeks. The realisation had at first shocked the battle hardened super-soldier, but then the recollection of his semi-recent history had reset that idea. That within two weeks of first having arrived in this strange alternate reality he had adapted as much as he had socially. But like all of his life, he'd always adapted to non-Spartans as much as necessary, whether that was for the purpose of battlefield communication or because somewhere deep within it spoke to an instinct.

It reminded him of when he'd first been paired with Cortana and feeling as though he had a civilian in his head. It had been an event that made him wonder how he and the other Spartans would have fared if they were ever required to work more closely with Marines or ODST during their careers.

As Spartans, they'd been raised to be the absolute best of both Humanity at large and the UNSC armed services. And he, like the rest of the Spartans, had always differentiated between military personnel and civilians and thought that the behaviour of them could never intertwine.

That had all changed when the war arrived, and the Spartans were deployed in small teams, and even sometimes alone, to serve amongst the regular UNSC ranks in attempting to save as many civilians as possible and to defeat the Covenant horde. It had been jarring at first, seeing and hearing how un-Spartan the rest of the UNSC was; when he'd been raised to think that Spartan behaviour was normal UNSC behaviour.

But the world hadn't cared how surprised he was by this revelation, so he and the rest of the Spartans adapted as they had to, and communicated with UNSC troops however they had too. None of them had realised how much extra expression that had opened up in them toward their own Humanity.

Cortana had been an exemplification of that lesson. She was as UNSC as any sentient being could be, more so than even himself. She was created with the singular purpose of serving the UNSC, whereas he was found and sculpted, and yet she expressed herself in a manner so civilian that he instinctively doubted her at first.

But his doubts had been cast aside as she'd served with him and beyond his own ability. She was just as, if not more so, responsible for saving more lives than himself, and for ending more Covenant than himself, and yet she was still so human, so expressive, and so emotional.

While he'd never adopted her expressions or way of speaking, he'd learnt to be social with her, and to care for her in a way that ran just as deep as with his Spartans. He'd learnt to let a small smile claim his lips at her jokes, to console her in her concern, to care when she spoke passionately about their shared duties.

He had learnt to feel as she felt but never had he had the opportunity to learn to express as she expressed. It was an opportunity that fate seemed intent on him having. The first portion of his life had been committed into sculpting him into the greatest warrior in modern Human history, and now fate seemed to want him to shift into something more than just a warrior.

Within this new reality with no UNSC and no Spartans, his need to socially develop was paramount. And so he had and was, and he could feel the change bringing words to feelings and expressions that he'd left unsaid since his first exposure to normal Humans years earlier.

"It's been an honour-" John paused, rethinking his choice of words as he stood amidst the Normandy crew at the Alliance docks on the Citadel, facing toward Shepard. He reached up and pulled his helmet from his head, deciding that Shepard deserved true recognition. He tucked his helmet under his left arm, and in a very civilian manner offered his right hand to the Alliance Commander turned Human Council Spectre. "It's been a pleasure. I'll see you again."

Shepard let a small smile pull the corners of his lips as he accepted the offered handshake and reciprocated the slight tug. "The honour has been all of ours."

The two gloved hands parted, and they shared a nod of understanding.

John couldn't help but think mechanically about his developing ability to socialise on a more normal human level, and he saw it like before as being like a muscle that was being trained into being more efficient at performing a task. He wasn't remotely displeased with it as forming a soldiers and friends bond with Shepard had rewarded him with new allies and new purpose.

But how he felt was barely expressed on his face, and his words still short and as precise as a bullet from Linda. But just as John had done his best to learn the crew of the Normandy, they had been doing their best to learn him, and the given expression of all the squad and crew showed that they understood and valued his purposeful rewording of his farewell to Shepard and the removal of his helmet.

"It's a damn shame things went this way, but this will be the best way around this," Hackett's grizzly voice reminded the crew of his presence, despite the fact that he was standing dutifully just a meter back from Shepard.

Shepard nodded to himself and turned slightly to the Admiral. "Destroying the Bahak system was the only way to slow down the Reapers…" He shook his head toward the floor, showing that despite knowing he'd done right that it was still a hefty knowledge to bear, "But there has to be a cost."

"The Hegemony is in a state of confusion, if you'd just straight up destroyed the system without that warning message, then they'd straight up being calling this an act of war. For most of them, the confusion over your warning has just put them in a very mobilised state not exactly sure how to react." Hackett explained to Shepard and the tuned in crew he commanded.

"And what about the Council's response?" Garrus stepped forward next to Shepard and asked, his eyes briefly flicking to the nearby Salarian and Turian C-Sec duo who didn't look too concerned at all about Shepard freely standing not far from them

Hackett narrowed his eyes a little and took a small step closer to Shepard, and his assembled squad, "None of them have openly said anything, but the suggested Intel from each of their races is that they know something is coming now. They don't care about Bahak beyond saying something for the media."

"So they're going to dismiss it as a hoax again?" Tali quipped from next to the towering super-soldier.

The grey haired admiral shook his head, "Not this time. I'd expect to see them be a lot more vague in how they answer any questions about it."

John wanted to snort at the political machinations, something that he withheld and had always relied on Cortana to do. "Admiral, I will prepare military forces for the arrival of this new threat."

Hackett nodded to the simply spoken words of the towering super-soldier who he'd only spoken to once through a screen until now. He believed it without question, no matter how improbable it seemed. "Brass is waiting, ready, Commander?"

"Yes sir," Shepard answered with a firm nod to the Admiral.

Hackett turned toward the docking umbilical they'd all exited minutes earlier and waved to a nearby waiting squad of Alliance marines and naval crew. They jogged down the umbilical before them toward the waiting airlock of the Normandy. Hackett turned to the crew and gave them all a final nod before following in the footsteps of the troops who'd be taking the Normandy back to Alliance space. Shepard was quick to fall into step beside him until the airlock closed behind them and the Normandy pulled away for a quick departure.

The assembled crew all stood motionless as the once Cerberus now Alliance frigate vanished into FTL.

"Who's up for a drink?"

All eyes instantly turned to Jacob with smirks of amusement. The ex-Alliance and now ex-Cerberus officer rubbed the back of his head with a quick and short laugh. "Or not?"

"Ahh, hell, I'm down," Jack mumbled and shouldered through several of the Normandy's former nav officers toward the elevator. Jacob moved to follow her before stopping in front of John.

"Chief," His hand flew to his brow in a crisp Spartan-worthy salute. "It's been an honour."

John straightened his already straight posture and raised his own salute back. "Jacob, stay ready."

Jacob dropped his salute as soon as John did, gave a final nod, and then followed after Jack. "Take care of yourself, big guy!" Jack called over her shoulder with a wave, "Same to the rest of you fuckers too," She callously added as the elevator opened and she stepped in, keeping a hand on the door to hold it for Jacob.

"Why not…" Zaeed murmured and peeled out of the group to catch up to the two.

"I must go and see to my son," Thane offered with a rare smile claiming his usually enduringly calm expression, "I wish you all the best from here on."

"And I my daughters," Samara offered, holding the gaze of each of the remaining squad members for a moment before turning and following after Thane heading toward the sky car rank.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Garrus suddenly asked, turning to the armoured behemoth.

"I'm going to the Council to get a ship to take back to the Forerunner control room."

Silence followed the simply, and bluntly, stated course of action. It would have been unlikely enough for him, a man of no faction, going to the Alliance with such a statement, but the Council was at another level again.

"Going to steal it if they say no?" Kasumi posited, her right hip cocked and a mischievous smile lingering on the lower half of her face.

"They'll give me a ship."

Silence answered John again, with Miranda visibly paling at what she clearly thought might happen if the Chief didn't get his way.

"I've got to say, I really want to see how this goes," Garrus broke the silence with a spark in his eye. "Anyone else?"

Kasumi bounced on her toes and did a small hip height wave of her hands in a sarcastic show, "I'm always happy to see a show! And if they say no, I can still steal it."

Mordin openly, and loudly, scoffed. "I know of your thievery by reputation only. But, to steal from the Council! Ridiculous!"

"Just kidding guys," Kasumi all too quickly called back with her mischievous smirk still in place.

"I would very much like to visit this Forerunner control room, I will come, also," Mordin added a beat later.

John nodded in approval and turned to leave, halting in his motion as his eyes fell onto Tali's beseeching expression through the haze of her visor. She was confused, conflicted, and upset; he identified.

And she didn't need to explain to him why. John had always been a tactical study, and whenever met with new elements he would study all intel available. So he had already read a majority of the galactic codex and information about the Quarian people and by extension the Geth.

Tali visibly wanted to go with him, the yearning in her eyes said as much, but the biting of her full lower lip expressed her restraint toward her duty to return to her people. It was an important duty for a Quarian to serve their people and return alive. Every life truly mattered in a very material way.

John squared his posture toward her and dug softer words than normal from deep within, "We'll see each other again, soon. Go back to your people."

Tali's eyes widened at the calmly spoken suggestion and looked to his still uncovered bright blue eyes. She quickly closed the space between them until she was a foot from him, she looked up into his face standing above her and spoke slowly, "Thank you, for being able to see me."

John didn't reply to the simply spoken but deeply meaningful words, not sure if he was equipped to answer as he should.

She glanced sideways to Legion, flanking Mordin with the clear intention of following the Chief to the Council Chambers. Her eyes remained on the Geth for a moment before going back to the eerily bright eyes of the super-soldier. "And thank you for showing me a better way forward. Keelah se'lai."

John relaxed his focus to push a small upward arch of his lips to Tali, already giving him a gentle smile from behind the shroud of her visor. She maintained her expression to him for a moment longer before turning toward the sky car rank that Thane and Samara had both already departed from with the intent of heading to the merchant's district to catch a ride.

John didn't waste a moment in watching her leave, immediately looking back to the elevator and proceeding while sliding his helmet back onto his head. He stepped into the elevator and prodded the Presidium level as Kasumi, Garrus, Legion, Mordin, and Grunt joined him in filling out the space.

Miranda gave them all a professional nod as before the doors shut her from view and started its quick ascent toward their destination. "I feel like we don't have a certain xenophobe with daddy issues present?" Kasumi harshly joked with a jovial sounding laugh.

Grunt rumbled out a slow and deep chuckle, and Garrus gave Kasumi a light elbow in the ribs for the disrespectful joke, despite the suppressed mirthful expression. "As much as Miranda was… Is, Miranda, she was vital to the mission."

"You mean how she could woo people with how high that suit of her rides?" Kasumi prodded, her smirk getting broader.

Garrus was unable to respectfully rebut the Asian woman's second joking attack without a chuckle rolling from her jaws, "Yeah, that's what I mean…" He decided on as the easiest course of action to leave the conversational topic of Miranda behind. "So Chief?"

John turned his helmet slightly toward Garrus to acknowledge him.

"What are you going to say to the Council?"

"I will explain I am not of this Universe and that I can prove a valuable asset if they give me a ship to help shore up defences," He answered with a flat tone, immediately fixing his eyes back to the centre of the doors. Not at all caring for the disbelieving and shocked expressions of the now former Normandy squad behind him.

The Spartan's chosen course of action was simple, and it would work. Of course, he had no reason to believe that, but as always, his instincts drove him when within an unknown, and they'd never failed him. His eyelids held shut for a moment as he suppressed thoughts of the past, and his mind was flooded with memories he knew didn't belong to him.

" _Our great enemy is no more! We shall have a new empire!"_

John grit his teeth at the seething voice booming through his mind, and he turned his mental focus inward. He was standing on what could only be a bridge of a warship with vast viewscreens stretching around him and the one other occupant of the room like a cathedral.

Beyond the tech-infused glass, decimated ships drifted, plumes of fire discharging from destroyed conduits, bodies still in their end, all of Human shape. It was instantly clear where he was, or where his memory was; in one of the Lord of Admiral's memories of a battle between ancient Humanity and the Forerunners.

John's eyes fixed onto the single other occupant of the room, the man to whom the memory belonged. He stood as still as stone at the very end of the command deck in front of the glass, his long hair draped down his back, and the lights within his armour blinked as he turned to regard John.

John immediately became aware that he wasn't garbed in his armour, it having been disposed of in this scape of expression for the simple and strangely calming feeling of the fatigues that he'd worn for a majority of his childhood as a trainee.

" _Master Chief…."_

John's eyes snapped from looking at the olive green shirt spread across his chest to the speaker. The Lord of Admirals had turned from the view screen and had squared his shoulders toward John. His gentle brown eyes made the distance between them feel like nothing as he saw into the super soldier.

" _That's what they call you. The Spartan. The soldier."_ He shook his head and looked to the floor, raising his arms as he did. _"A new form of Humanity."_

John took a few cautious steps forward, distantly aware that this wasn't real, that it was in his head. That this man couldn't be here, and yet he was, with his memories.

" _John-117. Your name was taken from you."_

John halted five paces from the ancient leader. The brown eyes rose again and met Johns. "What do you want?"

The Lord of Admiral nodded with the inclination of a smile at the corners of his lips. _"The future looks bright, soldier. My name is Forthencho."_

"How are you here?" John asked next after the lack of answering his first question.

Forthencho spread his arms, palms facing upwards, and looked from one to the next, " _The Librarian's gift to Humanity… Meddling in the natural order of things to undo the mistakes of the Forerunner."_

John didn't miss the clear contempt that filled the man's voice as he spoke the Forerunner name. "What do you want?" he resorted to repeating.

" _I am fading from this imprint… I was not put here to speak with you, just to show you."_

"Show me what-" John began only to halt suddenly and pale as images flashed through his mind. Grand battles, thousands of warships clashing in a myriad of laser and plasma weapons burning through space, ship, and flesh alike. Planets burning beneath vast fleets belonging to the Human litany, and flesh being torn asunder and reformed into writhing and roaring masses.

John wanted to roar at the influx of information that suddenly flowed into range of focus within his mind. Ancient Human power, an empire spanning thousands of worlds, peace with what looked like an older form of the San-Shyuum. Meeting the Flood and beginning the war to eradicate the parasite, burning the seething masses from any world where it was found, and then finally war with the Forerunners.

Then came the emotions, the heart-wrenching ache of a ten thousand year lifetime at war for the sake of peace. Great highs and lows; pride and love running rich and true in the light of Human achievement, terror striking naturally at beholding the horror that was the Flood. And rage unlike anything else at the thought of the Forerunners and their ultimate insult to Humanity.

John's vision spun and then refocused onto Forthencho. The ancient admiral wore a sad and solemn smile, _"The Librarian was everything that the Forerunners were meant to be. I don't know what to expect from this imprint she's put within you. But you will change."_

John frowned and strode forward until he was side by side with the Admiral and looked out into the zero-g graveyard. "I'm not in our universe anymore."

" _Then make it ours. The Precursors created the mantle, you can recreate it, warrior."_ Forthencho spoke, his voice coming out passionate and strong.

John looked at him to see his eyes waiting, he held the gaze and matched the intensity, but saw the power in the eyes of this long passed man. "The Reapers are coming, this Universe is different."

Forthencho held the gaze for just a moment before turning back toward the view screen, _"These Reapers consume organic life to become more themselves. This galaxy is dotted by empires that all think themselves better than the others. They work together sometimes. They fight one another. They all fall to the Reapers eventually. This may as well be our Galaxy, our Universe."_

John made a point of sweeping his gaze across the massive scope of the destruction beyond the glass, over the thousands of destroyed vessels, before looking back to Forthencho with a stony gaze, "Then I'll end it."

" _You're the culmination of a million lifetimes of planning. You're not me, you're not from my Humanity…"_ Forthencho offered his hand with a grim smile, only now realising that John stood several centimetres taller. " _But Humanity has turned out for the better."_

John took the hand offered and gave it a shake but held the grip. "I'll see to it."

The grim smile that Forthencho wore softened ever so slightly as his visage started to pale and wave. No more words were shared between the two as their eyes held the others with Forthencho fading, acknowledging the warrior within the other. Suddenly John was back within the realm of the physical, as the elevator doors slid open, and the background presence he'd felt drifting at the edge of his senses ever since meeting the Librarian was gone.

He clenched his jaw and fought his heart for a moment to conquer his surging emotions reacting to uncontrolled feelings that Forthencho had left in his wake.

"Chief?"

Johns' eyes snapped to Kasumi, now standing a foot from him, having circled around him in his frozen state.

John shook his head and stepped passed her, heading through the rest of the waiting squad who were all wearing slightly concerned expression –besides Legion who even as a machine managed to look curious. Until now they'd only seen the man as an absolutely resolute figure of strength and fortitude.

"Chief?" Kasumi called again, dodging between Garrus and Grunt who'd both turned to follow after their new de facto leader.

John still didn't reply. Instead, he proceeded up the first short flight of stairs passed a group of Salarian diplomats discussing their political machinations loudly and zealously.

The slim hooded woman nudged into Johns side as forcefully as she could and fixed her honey brown eyes into his visor, now capable of imagining his eyes. "Master Chief! You're not our silent god or anything! Tell us what's up?"

John didn't speak and internalised his thoughts. He'd initially had trouble empathising with Cortana after losing contact with Blue Team, and he couldn't help but wonder how similar this would be.

"We're with you, Chief," Garrus added as he kept in John's wake as the group rounded a purple-leafed tree toward another short flight of stairs.

"The Master Chief is a Human super soldier from another reality. A lifetime of war. Contact with former Galaxy ruling species and galaxy consuming parasite. Emotional contact likely restricted." Mordin explained out loud to the group, more as a service to just voicing his thoughts and deductive capability.

"Just a bad memory…" John half lied over his shoulder as he reached the top of the next flight of stairs and walked through the middle of a departing group of Alliance delegates.

The Humans parted with several angry glares being cast toward the towering man as he continued onward until the attention of the group was drawn to the raised voices that they were approaching.

"Councillor Anderson, I understand that you want to discuss Commander Shepard's latest findings, but the other races have a lot of other matters to consider!"

John didn't know the voice, but he knew that there was a Council member from each Citadel species, and knew the tones of Turians nor Salarians matched the very human voice. The diplomatic wisdom of an Asari perspective was clear.

"The Citadel is meant to be a joint force! We must unite to face this threat!" Anderson's voice argued back just as they rounded the final set of low-lying trees and saw the four council members seated around an elliptical table beyond the viewing platform and the below floor level garden.

John didn't know the scene by a personal history of being here, but it was clear from the mission report he'd watched from Shepard, Garrus and Tali fighting and killing Saren here that the podium space that the Councillors would normally hold discussion from now accommodated a long and broad table.

The viewing platform that anyone who would address them from had been extended across the top of the glass roofed indoor garden below to join onto the Council's area of discussion. John couldn't decide if that change in design was due to practicality after Saren's prior attack or if it was a diplomatic suggestion. John shoved the thought to the back of his mind quickly as the Turian councillor's eyes fell onto him and he quickly and aggressively rose from the table into a natural defensive stance.

Anderson's eyes were quick to follow the Turian's, and he postured toward the approaching Spartan and his mismatched following, stepping around the table to reach the super soldier with a handshake to silently diffuse any suspicion that the Turian clearly had for the living weapon of war.

John silently sucked in a deep breath and let the exhalation fog his visor by way of relieving the spike in adrenaline he felt at the aggressive expression the Turian was giving him. Instead, he followed Anderson's unsaid request and proceeded across the former viewing platform –now public bridge- to meet the Human Admiral turned Councillor with a handshake.

"Admiral."

"Master Chief," Anderson greeted back with a small smile and a nod. He quickly released the handshake and turned to face his fellow Councillors, "Councillor's, this is the Master Chief; one of Shepard's latest crew."

The three alien Councillors still situated on the far side of the table all slightly narrowed their eyes at him. John had expected as much and had read up on each of them briefly between watching any recorded vid he could of Shepard speaking with them to gauge their diplomatic style.

He knew well enough that each of them came from military backgrounds, so it was all too clear to him that they were all wondering what Alliance black op he hailed from. John was no diplomat if anything; he was the furthest thing from one. He gave the three suspicious Councillors a nod of recognition before fixing his visor back onto Anderson as he retrieved a microdisk from one of the hidden compartments on his hip.

He offered the disk to the Admiral on the tip of his index finger, "Mission report and footage."

"Of?"

John and Anderson both looked to the Asari Councillor in surprise at her interjection before Anderson likewise looked to him. "Well?"

"Retrieval of Kenson, destruction of the Bahak Relay. The assault on the Collector base and destruction of the proto-Reaper."

"Another typical Shepard story!" The Turian grunted angrily. "More 'Reapers' to scare us into supporting his wild crusade."

"Oh shut up Sparatus! You might not want to accept it yet, but everyone knows something is coming," The Salarian cried in frustration as he too rose from his seat to attempt to stare down his Turian counterpart.

John suppressed the lightning bolt of frustration that flashed through his heart at watching the politicians open up a clearly well-trodden debate. He was silently glad how differently the UEG and UNSC were governed back in his reality, even if sometimes the consequences were permanently displacing children from their families.

Upon first contact with the Covenant, very little hard evidence had been nailed down, but the UNSC was very quick to react with appropriate military action.

"Valern, Sparatus!" The Asari called sharply to the two who were now staring each other down, looking like they were about the erupt into an argument. After their eyes had fallen onto her, she looked to John. "Master Chief?"

He gave a single nod of his head to her request to address him, an action that he was well aware was entirely due to his physical stature.

"Would we all be able to watch this mission footage?"

"Thank you, Tevos," Anderson sighed in relief as he collected to tiny disk off the soldiers still waiting finger. And took a step back toward the table; an orange holographic display situated in the centre lighting up in response. His finger dipped into the centre of the glowing structure, and he deposited the disk onto a waiting strut.

Anderson stepped back, and an orange holographic screen fizzed into existence above the table like a screen sliding up.

A moment of concern crossed Johns mind as nothing but black and white static played. He'd spent thirty minutes following having departed the Collector base cleaning up the feeds on all of his recordings, and even trying to arrange the energy and data read from Object Rho into a visual recording as it had been communicated directly to his mind.

The result hadn't been a full success, but neither was it a failure, as the screen finally resolved into flashes of the images both he and Shepard had been shown of the Reapers arriving in the Bahak system. John reached his hand out, his still unfamiliar omni-tool lighting up as he waved toward the playing footage of the Reapers spreading throughout the galaxy.

"This was recorded as a mix of energy, radiation, and data directly from a Reaper artefact. It communicates information directly into the mind of the observer. It was not easy to collate into images that would play on our technology." He explained to the four Councillors who watched the aquatic looking vessels play out on the screen, seven bars of fluctuating readings having appeared after John waved his omni-tool.

None of them verbally responded, simply watching it to completion before it shifted into high definition footage of the Collector base and fighting Collectors from John's perspective.

Five minutes into the playing of the footage of John dispatching Collectors as he proceeded deeper and deeper into the base, he heard the Asari councillor mutter beneath her breath and looked to her, "Goddess… Where are you from?"

He found her peering at him, not remotely concerned that he could see her doing so, and decided to answer her rhetorical question just loud enough that only she with her fractured focus from the footage would hear, "Not from this Universe."

He eyes widened a fraction before she pursed her lips and looked back to the playing footage that Anderson was speeding up, finally arriving at the scene where Shepard was visible firing his own rifle up at the roaring –and shooting- humanoid Reaper seeking to end them.

The vid continued for ten more minutes, much to the enrapture of the Councillor's watching the death of the Reaper, the Illusive Man having it stuck to him by Shepard's words, and the ultimate destruction of the Collectors base.

"Councillors," Garrus stepped from behind the Spartan as he announced his presence, "This footage should be more than enough evidence, shouldn't it?" The C-sec officer within him questioned.

Tevos was nodding, more to herself than the others and Valern was peering suspiciously at the Spartan who'd presented the disk. Sparatus wasn't as concerned with personal reflection and was doing his best to stare down Shepard's former Turian quartermaster.

"Yes, this footage and energy readouts are conclusive, in my mind. So what are your motivations? What do you want?" Tevos cut straight to the point looking at John's golden visor.

John looked right back at her for a moment, before looking briefly to the other council members and then back to her. "I am a Human from a different Universe. I want a ship to use to seek out elements from my Universe that have made it here to help combat the Reapers."

"You want a ship!" Sparatus spluttered in clear disbelief to the candid words.

Anderson on the other hand slightly shook his head and bit his lower lip at the unexpectedly bluntly spoken information.

"For one, what a ridiculous story! Secondly, no you don-"

"What elements?" Valern interrupted what was to be Sparatus's stinging shut down.

John shifted his eyes, and direction of his visor, from Tevos to the Salarian. "The former greatest power of my Universe have made it here, I suspect I can make use of their technology."

"Greatest power? Former?" Valern quickly vied for more information making a point not to look to the angry Sparatus.

"I would appreciate some intel from that site you went to as well?" Anderson chimed in.

John nodded and fixed his posture toward the Salarian Councillor. "In my Universe, one hundred thousand years ago, the civilisation that controlled the galaxy had a war with a parasitic species that destroyed them. But they were advanced almost beyond the need to exist in the physical, and before they fell I know for a fact that one of their Builder ships and crew made it here, I've already found one of their sites."

"You are a form of Species Forces?" Tevos asked and received a quick nod in response. "You're fast to share sensitive information?"

John nodded again, "I'm stranded in this reality, if the Forerunners couldn't get back from here then neither can I. I might as well choose a side."

"So whose side are you on?" Sparatus asked with a smirk and a shrewd quirk in his brow.

"All life…" John replied a little slower than he'd like without as much sureness as he'd like. He wasn't one hundred percent sure on exactly who or what he was fighting for. But as much as looking at aliens still made him tingle with uncomfortableness, he knew that these certainly weren't Covenant and that these aliens were a lot more similar to Humans than the ones from the world he knew.

"Your Citadel Council exists to unite species, that's whose side I'm fighting for." He added a moment later.

"So you want to sign on to Citadel forces?" The smirk across Sparatus's exoskeletal face managed to deepen.

Tevos shot the Turian a momentary baleful glare, "No, he's saying he wants our blessing to act on the Councils behalf."

"Extra-Universal Human," Valern started in immediate evaluation, looking up and down John's stature, "Super soldier… Wants to be a Spectre? Very interesting ramifications! Technologies from different reality!"

John gave a mild shake of his head, "No, I don't want to be one of your Spectres. I just want to be able to prove my worth as a Spartan to your fight."

"Our fight?"

John nodded to the Asari, "The Reapers ARE coming. They will destroy and consume all of you unless you unite against them."

"And what Intel did you collect from that site?" Anderson questioned.

"Forerunner's could only come to this reality, they could not return. Their ship was cannibalised to communicate with other Forerunner assets. It will only allow me or others with me into the structure."

"Are you saying that you won't let anyone else verify this?" Sparatus spat incredulously.

Within his helmet, John frowned in frustration. He couldn't fathom why this politician was grasping at any straws available to be difficult. "No, the Forerunner's used advanced gene technology. Their technology can tell I am from their reality and only reacts to me."

"Spartan? Military position?" Valern brought the conversation back to the previous track with his wide and curious eyes.

"A branch of the military, yes."

The four councillors each stayed silent for a couple minutes in clear internal turmoil. "Don't think they like you Chief," Kasumi laughed quietly from behind Garrus.

"That is an incorrect assumption, Goto- Hacker, only the Turian Councillor appears to dislike the Master Chief." Legion all too logically answered from the rear in his strange way of addressing individuals by their last name plus their rank or skill.

"I'm willing to grant your request on the condition that you allow the Council to oversee anything you do with our vessel."

"Tevos-" Sparatus spluttered angrily, catching himself short of openly expressing any disrespectful. "Councillor… Surely, we can't give out vital resources to this… Person."

"I second giving a vessel to the Master Chief," Anderson agreed with a nod to Tevos and then to John.

"Valern… Surely we can't give this person a ship!" Sparatus grasped at straws against the sway toward the newcomer.

Valern nodded, a small smile taking his lips. "I would very much like to learn of this galaxy that you are from, Master Chief, and of your technology. I agree with Councillors' Anderson and Tevos."

"But Councillor Sparatus does have every right to his reservations, so I suggest a Kowloon class freighter?" Anderson suggested with a subtle nod to Tevos.

John caught the nod and appreciated what he thought the meaning to be. After the footage from the Collector base and Shepard vouching for him, Anderson had faith in his abilities and word, and Tevos was clearly more inclined to agree with Anderson. So downgrading any combative capability was a political move to quiet the disagreeable Turian, knowing that in all likelihood it wouldn't affect him at all.

Sparatus seemed to play directly into Anderson's political machinations and released a low sigh, "Fine then. At least we're not arming someone who could be a terrorist. He even has a damn Geth with him!"

"Previously, this platform was to work with Shepard-Commander against the mutual enemy, the Collectors. But Master Chief has displayed himself as a likely contender for forming alliances."

Legion's all too logical answer to Sparatus's slung insult served to somewhat close one can of worms and open a whole new one. Sensing the possibility of a mounting argument with the ever testy Turian Councillor, Anderson stepped forward, "Master Chief, you and your team can follow me back to my office, and we'll fix the details."

For good measure and in an attempt to prevent any more political inflammation, John threw his hand to his visor and thrust his posture straight in a solute, "Councillor's."

Anderson flicked off a quick salute while Tevos and Valern both gave something between a nod and a bow. The aged Admiral gestured to get passed John and he willingly stepped aside to be able to fall into step behind the Admiral turned Councillor on the way to the office where they'd originally met.

 **XXX Scene Break XXX**

"You really know how to play politics, don't you son."

Sarcasm, John mentally noted after entering Anderson's office and staying standing on the other side of the Councillor's desk as he took a seat and started typing into his console.

"I'm not saying that I don't believe you. But you could have made that a little easier? No name, just a rank and an affiliation that seems impossible and a few good words from Shepard."

John let his shoulders rise and fall a couple of centimetres in a small shrug. "I don't have a name." It was a partial lie, or more; a denial of the full truth. "And I acquired what I wanted."

Anderson looked up from his screen into the golden faceplate and stared for a moment before shaking his head and looking back to his task at hand. "They really made you to be a war machine, didn't they?"

Once more, John found it best not to reply. No one back within the UNSC had ever called him a war machine, but he couldn't say the idea wasn't true. All of the Spartans were meant to be the perfect tool of war, and even as he found himself discovering more of his own Humanity the term war machine didn't feel like any form of insult.

"You're damn lucky that Shepard vouched for you, son! Otherwise I'd have thought you were some Cerberus mech," Anderson shook his head, but let a small smile claim his features as his typing stopped, and instead, he started scrolling. "Although you've already done more for the galaxy than the Councillors. Saved Shepard from the Batarian's, delayed that invasion force, were instrumental in destroying the Collectors. How come you believed Shepard about the Reapers so easily?"

John didn't need a single moment to think on that, it was the same answer that had lead to the UNSC being so fast to attempt to defend against the Covenant. "Hard evidence about them was sparse. But the total lack of evidence and the trail of destruction proved something was there to represent the threat. Denial of action is the same as failure to resist an enemy."

"Ahh, you've found someone even more plainly spoken than John Shepard, Anderson?"

The door behind the lazily, and silently, assembled former Shepard team slid open, and the recently familiar voice announced as she slid through the small team to take a seat opposite Anderson and next to the still standing Spartan.

Anderson raised his brow in surprise at Tevos's unexpected entry and comfort in slotting herself into the situation but shrugged a little and continued scrolling through whatever was on his screen.

"Why don't you take a seat too?" Tevos asked, looking up at John and to the unoccupied chair next to her.

"It won't take my weight." He replied simply.

"Ooh, I don't mind if I do then!" Kasumi sidled up next to the super soldier and slid onto the chair, forcing John to step around Tevos to make comfortable room.

"Councillor," Anderson began, briefly looking from his task to Tevos who looked strangely comfortable in the odd company. "I can understand Valern believing the Chief, but not you?"

The Asari's pale patterned brow rose in a brief moment of surprise, and she looked from Anderson to the towering man now standing to her right. "We know for certain that Cerberus doesn't have tech like him, so the only conceivable options are the Alliance or something completely off the board. And my intelligence suggests that you don't have the kind of tech to build armour like that, let alone someone be that combat effective. So the impossible seems uncomfortably likely, which only supports Shepard's case more."

"Hmm," Anderson hummed in thought as he turned the screen to face them the assembled group. "You're in luck," He started as they all saw the normal looking Kowloon class freighter displayed. "This freighter was retrofitted by the Alliance as a command support vessel for ops in the Terminus systems. Just as much armour as any normal frigate and point defence weapons with a drive core like a frigate too."

John peered at it for a moment and read the stats displayed next to it, from travel speed to its fifty-five-meter length. It still boggled him that the classification of ships and their tonnage was so much lower here than the ships from the UNSC. He tucked the thought away as Anderson continued.

"Everyone wins here, you get a ship that will get you where you need to be, and Sparatus thinks he's downgraded you."

John nodded, "It will do." In truth, it didn't even matter to him. He simply wanted to get back to the Forerunner control room to talk with Solitude. His instincts were telling him that the Ancilla wasn't entirely honest about the facility. Of course, he was judging that entirely based on the Didact's ship, the Keyship, and other Forerunner ships he'd seen in terminals on Requiem. But he couldn't help but feel that even cannibalising a Forerunner ship would build a much larger facility than the simple control room that he'd been allowed into.

"And I want to know more about where you're from?" Tevos quickly added after John's dismissive acceptance.

John instantly filled the request as a completely understandable one as he looked down at the alien woman. "In my galaxy, there's no element zero or Mass Effect science. When Humanity did make contact with an alien hegemony called the Covenant a war of genocide started. This was because Humanity are the genetic reclaimers of all Forerunner technology left over. The Covenant were technologically superior to us all the way through the war besides the development of AI and the Spartans. Eventually, the Covenant splintered, and I ended the war."

"Got another war hero, Anderson?" Tevos half smiled to her Human counterpart behind the desk. "How long did this conflict last? You said eventually…"

"Twenty-eight years of warfare. Only thirty or so colonies left from eight hundred."

"Goddess… Such a conflict!" The Asari Matriarchs eyes widened in shock. "So many worlds to lose! You must have had a massive empire. Were there Asari in your reality?"

John nodded initially in response, "UNSC space covered most of the Orion arm. But no, I never encountered any of the other species from this galaxy."

"Most of the Orion arm?" Tevos narrowed her eyes, "That's not that much space…"

"The Orion arm is ten thousand light years in length, even with eight hundred habitable worlds it's thought that there would be hundreds to thousands more existing in that space that haven't been found yet."

"Remember Tevos, no Mass Effect technology, no eezo, no Relays. How much space do we ignore because it isn't close to a Relay?" Anderson chimed in.

Tevos hummed in thought for a moment before turning slightly in her chair to nod toward the mechanically still Geth. "And I'm guessing that's why this Geth has sided with you? Because of the AI from your galaxy?"

John stayed stone still in thought before performing a slow shrug. "I have studied the history of this reality. The Geth never did anything wrong besides defend themselves. I don't understand why this galaxy is so afraid of AI. No one from the Citadel at the time even tried to extend any talks of peace."

Tevos and Anderson both nodded, "That's an unfortunate truth." The Asari agreed with a grim smile, looking from Legion to John. "For such a long-lived species, the Asari have made enough errors to outdo any Turian."

Anderson briefly laughed, "Like the Relay incident?"

"A lot like that," She agreed with a small frown. The frown shifted a moment later as her eyes found John again, "So you must use some form of faster than light travel?"

"We travel through interdimensional space."

"Wormhole travel!" Tevos concluded in surprise with her brow scaling her forehead in surprise.

John narrowed his eyes in thought as he tried to define slip-space within his mind in a way that the Asari would understand, "A form of wormhole travel," he settled for by way of avoiding attempting to explain the science that he was only educated on a cursory level.

"And how do you suppose your Forerunners got here?"

"Rare anomalies in slip space, it's unclear if they are natural or not."

"So you won't be needing any more crew?" Anderson interjected, cutting Tevos off from asking another question.

John looked over his shoulder and mentally counted off the former Shepard crew and their roles. Garrus, trusted soldier and a good leader, Kasumi, vested personal interest and a good strategist, Mordin, scientific mind interested in advancement and cooperation, Legion, Geth AI interested in forming alliances, and Grunt, being uncharacteristically silent in his curiosity toward John's methods.

"No, this will do," He answered after a few moments of thought. "I'll retrieve all of the data necessary and acquire intel on the Reapers."

Anderson nodded, "Sure wish that I could come with you, Son. But I'm a little past my soldiering days."

John and Anderson both looked to Tevos, who's fingers were tapping on her folded arms in clear thought. Noticing them looking to her, she looked from Anderson to John. "I must say, Asari aren't burdened by the litany of ageing like Humans… And I would like to see this proof in person."

"Ma'am," John began slowly, frowning within his helmet and hoping that his self-given mission wasn't about to become something else entirely. "I can't promise the safety of any VIP."

"Noted, Master Chief," She smiled slightly. "Good thing I started my days as a Commando."

"Councillor… Are you sure this is a good idea? What about when Sparatus and Valern hear about this?"

"Then Anderson, I'll trust you'll assure them that the rumours are false and I have simply gone on a diplomatic mission to Thessia." Tevos coolly replied.

"Councillor," Garrus intruded into the three-way conversation. "I don't mean to be disrespectful. But you are a Councillor. How could you leave the Citadel?"

Tevos smile softly as she read into the meaning in what the Turian soldier said. That staying within her role on the Citadel was her duty, and she couldn't abandon it. "Garrus Vakerian, correct?"

Garrus nodded.

"For so long, Councillors have never left the safety of the Citadel, and so many terrible decisions have been made. I want to see the things that we are deciding about."

The explanation earned small nods of approval from all of John's new crew, and even Anderson himself nodded. "Alright, sending through the orders for the freighter now, it will be waiting at Dock D-19 in thirty."

"You won't regret helping me, sir."

 **XXX Scene Break XXX**

John's gloved hands slid across the touch screen surface of the Freighters navigation computer. The starting view of the Citadel and immediately surrounding craft zoomed out to encompass the entire widow system, then to the show the entire Serpent Nebula, until zooming out to the galactic view.

"Noveria," He spoke to the computer. As prompted, Noveria pinged once within the Horsehead Nebula, and John was fast to select it.

"Master Chief- Captain, this unit will pilot us to Noveria."

John looked to the Geth sitting as still as only a machine could in the co-pilot's chair a meter away within the forward navigation cabin of the freighter, and nodded simply.

He rose from his own chair and moved to the rear door just as the inertia dampeners kicked in, marking their departure from the Citadel.

The door opened a moment before John reached it and he was met with the surprised face of Tevos. Like him, she'd clearly not expected to open the door to another individual. But unlike him, she couldn't hide it.

"Master Chief!" She checked her surprise in addressing him, then looked down her body following the direction of his visor. "It's been a long time since I've needed to wear armour, I won't be a burden on your mission."

John did a mental check of the blue and white armour. Like most of the armour he'd seen since arriving, it was streamlined with a form of gel suit hugging her body extremely closely beneath the carbon and steel plates that adorned her shins, thighs, groin, chest and shoulders, again in a very streamlined fashion.

"Noted, I don't expect to encounter any hostiles in the installation."

"When do you expect to encounter hostiles?" Tevos mused, her eyes narrowed in curiosity. Clearly suspecting that he likewise expected to need to engage in combat at some point soon.

"I expect to find locations of other installations in key areas."

"And you expect combat?" She needled.

John shrugged, "I'm ready for combat."

Tevos nodded in understanding, picking apart the meaning that he was his life to be combat ready. "When you have some time, I would like to talk to you about where you're from."

John nodded again by way of response and looked over his shoulder to Legion. The Geth seemed to be waiting for the Spartan to acknowledge him and answered the unspoken question readily. "Five minutes from departure from the Widow system. Estimated travel time of eight hours."

John nodded in satisfaction. "Councillor, I am going to check the crew, you can join me."

The soldier instantly stepped around her and through the door and made his way down the corridor beyond, leaving Tevos to initially raise her brow in response to the half order before turning to catch up with him.

"So your ranking in your Galaxy is the same as here? Master Chief isn't a very high rank?"

"I'm a conscript."

"But you're happy to issue orders to highly ranked people?" She tried again.

John paused for a moment to make a point of looking at her to drive his point home. "You, nor any Citadel or Alliance personnel, are from my chain of command. I am as respectful as your conduct deserves."

Tevos flushed a darker blue at the rebuttal in a spark of embarrassment. "So you won't take orders from anyone in this Galaxy? What if the Council can't, or won't believe that you're from a different Universe?"

"Do you mean what if you don't?"

Tevos held her ground in spite of the fact that the man who towered over her had caught her lingering doubts. "Yes, what if I can't help but think you're from some Alliance black op? As doubtful as that might be too."

"That's why you're here, isn't it, Councilor? To see physical evidence."

Tevos's skin darkened another shade as the next option came back into focus, the option that had drawn her here from her position of safety. The idea of experiencing the mind of a super soldier from a different reality felt like the possibility of seeing beyond the edge of existence. "The is the meld."

John instantly knew what it was. Asari, being one of the dominant civilisations of the Galaxy, had been one of the first species he'd read up on, and their ability to share complicated memories through connecting their nervous systems had been one of their defining traits.

It was not an idea that he was fond of. Of having someone else experiencing his life, of it bringing it all back to the surface for him to experience too, and all the secrets that should stay forgotten.

"You don't know…" John paused as he realised the objective edge had left his voice, and a modicum of passion had entered it, "You've got no idea the things I've seen. All of your wars are nothing to compared what I've seen."

Tevos's skin paled back to a normal tone at the threatening implications of her suggestion. And she immediately recalled the tales of Asari who'd melded with individuals scarred by horrors who'd lost their minds at the experience.

"Maybe I should know. No one should bear things like that on their own." Tevos suggested, half in fear, half in fascination and hope.

John stared down at her silently for several excruciatingly cold seconds before abruptly turning back the way he'd initially been heading and marching off. Tevos got the hint, and she stayed where she was, watching as he reached the end of the shot passageway and headed into the modified cargo hold with a silence that defied his mass.

She shook her head and let out the breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding, and turned her questions inward to her own motivations. She couldn't escape the fear that she held for her people and their allies.

She'd always believed Shepard about the Reapers and had played the political cards needed to stay in power and continue trying to do something about it. She knew that the time of their arrival drew closer and closer, and she felt desperation creeping deeper into her heart in finding some way to repel the greatest enemy that her Galaxy would ever know.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi Folks!  
Firstly, I'm terribly sorry for my total lack of updates. Work went mad, life got busy, then got sick, and the muse for writing totally died for a while there! But I'm back to it now. So a short chapter just to work my feel back into the story, almost a filler chapter. **

**Please be gentle in your reviews, I'm feeling a little raw to writing again : )**

 **Review responses:**

 **Ferox Pretorious:**

 **I do vaguely plan to bring all of the crew back, but in different settings. I'm honestly not sure to what capacity I'll bring the Normandy back… But I am finally back to writing so I'll be evolving the various character interactions from here. Hope you enjoy the new direction!**

 **Bobobobobobon:**

 **Did I do enough "bobobons?" But thanks! My take on FanFiction these days is that what's the point in writing it/enjoying it if certain fundamentals aren't changed and evolved? Buuuut in saying that, so long as it's enjoyable/enjoyed, who cares how that happens. But glad that you're liking it all the same : )**

 **Dane Addis:**

 **Thank you for your support. : )**

 **I'm somewhat undecided in what capacity to expand Tevos and her role, but I did want to include her for some political plot points so I'll feel out that expansion of character traits.**

 **Answering the Echoes**

 **.::Chapter Seven::.**

White teeth tugged on soft blue flesh and flawlessly smooth blue white dappled skin crinkled in a frown and lip bight of frustration. Tevos had only been aboard the freighter for seven hours with its new crew, but it only took one hour to learn that she didn't belong amongst the assembled individuals.

After the clear prompts from the Master Chief, she had made a slow process of following in his footsteps in seeking out and speaking with the crew. It was clear to her that each of them had strong political ideals and motivations. And subsequently, she was not welcome. But she was tolerated for those same political perspectives.

She'd started with Kasumi Goto, the master thief whom she had heard tell of through C-Sec wanting, but never publically declaring anything. The thief had surprised her; she had been a lot more morally bound than she had expected someone with such a successful thieving reputation to have.

And a good deal more polite and jovial than expected. But the niceties had only been to dress up her political jabs about the Asari's role in the Citadel Council and her own posturing toward Shepard about the Reapers following his death. Tevos had kept to her political –and personal- guns and expressed her appreciation of meeting the thief and then continued to the next crew member for further insight.

Garrus Vakarian; she thought that she'd gotten lucky with him being next on her intel hit list. Tevos and all of the Council for that matter had been fed dossiers on all known traits and attributes on Shepard's crew. But it instantly became clear that those dossiers had been massively out of date, and that through the hunt for Saren, then the subsequent return of the Citadel and failure of the system in being more effective, and then furthermore the mission against the Collectors, Garrus had changed a great deal.

He had greeted her in the manner that any respectful and upstanding Turian should, with politeness and discipline. But then he had bluntly expressed his critical opinion on the failings of every member of the Council. What had surprised her most had been his initial focus on what he referred to as the disparaging Turian Councillor. He'd spent five minutes describing the purity of his disappointment and disapproval of Sparatus, and his effect on the Turian Hierarchy.

Then his focus had shifted the Valern briefly, and unsurprisingly, considering how he'd just critically judged Sparatus, he'd somewhat forgiven the Salarian's political movements for the nature of the Salarian Union. He'd swayed from supposing that he thought that the Salarian's knew of the Reapers to herself and the Asari.

Garrus had looked into her eyes and outright told her that the Asari were the most disappointing inclusion in the Citadel with their political gaming of populations, but he'd surprisingly pulled himself short and seemed to remember her place and expressed his approval that at least she was aboard to do something herself.

Tevos had thanked him for his modicum of respect and then continued in the Master Chiefs footsteps to the next utility cabin to find Mordin. She'd never met him but had read extensively about him, even more recently updated reports about his efforts in the slums of Omega.

So she wasn't at all surprised to find him leaning over a table littered with several screens all displaying data feeds, reports and footage. As Tevos had fully expected; Mordin met her eyes as she entered, his own eyes had widened in the briefest moment of surprise as he recalled her strange addition to the team, and he'd straightened his posture to begin his interest in her being there.

But of course, his supposition for her being there was coloured by the history of the Asari in meddling in the background ever since meeting the Salarian Union. _"Very interesting set of events to bring the Asari Councillor away from the Citadel on asset procurement! Especially given typical Asari political and governmental behaviour! Potential shift in Asari politics? Ulterior motives? Holes in Asari intelligence and can't be trusted for verification of Master Chief? All have interesting ramifications!"_

In the time of Mordin questioning her and answering his own questions with supposition, which she couldn't fault as being very far from incorrect, she heard the heavy footfalls of the mysterious newcomer beating the hallway behind the closed door as he headed back to the cockpit, presumably having finished his check in with the crew with Grunt, the fledgling Krogan.

" _Master Chief, apparently, has had life time of service. As a stranger here, he continues to serve. Threatening that may be dangerous for you."_ Mordin had called her attention from the extra-universal Humans receding footfalls back to present with what was a borderline threat, and it completed the painted picture for Tevos.

The small and oddly matched crew believed Master Chief's story, and they supported where he was going, and they wouldn't let her or any politician threaten that.

After Mordin, Tevos had found her own empty utility room to base herself from, from the two dozen identical ones that lined the single central corridor that ran the length of the freighter. She'd moved her gear from where it had been left at the rear loading compartment and done her best to make herself at home.

The single bunk that sat in the rear of the room was dressed in a folded white sheet and topped with a caramel coloured memory foam pillow. The bench that was centred in the very middle of the small five by five-meter room had been introduced to her portable communications terminal and laptop.

And the two other suits of armour that she had were stacked in their disassembled state next to the door with her duffel bag of casual shipboard clothing which she'd brought in the event of wearing armour aboard the ship being inappropriate, something she almost wanted to laugh at now.

But Mordin's rapid fire interest, answers, curiosities and solutions with the topped off background threat had once more challenged her own lack of assuredness.

What was she here for? Ever since the introduction of Humanity to Citadel space she had felt a change swirling around the galactic stage. Partly in fear of the newcomers for their species wide ability to be general specialists, and partly in fascination of that same trait that enabled them to be just as warlike and disciplined as the Turians, potentially as destructive as the Krogans, as scientifically capable as the Salarians and Asari, and just as politically equipped.

She had repeated the political pattern of all Asari Republic Councillors from time gone by, but more often than not, found herself questioning so many things. It had all been brought to a head when Shepard arrived and was given the title of Spectre and in his campaign against Saren had discovered the threat of the Reapers.

She had never personally seen the Prothean beacon hidden on Thessia, but she knew of it through back channels and that it was the source of Asari technological dominance, and that it was laden with all kind of unimaginable secrets. It wasn't until Shepard, and Liara, his partner and Prothean expert, that she learnt that to truly interact with Prothean technology someone needed a genetic or psychological marker passed on called a cypher.

That explained why Shepard had claimed to be able to absorb so much information from the beacon in a single go, whereas Asari scientists had carefully hacked, decoded, and restructured very small sections of data from the hidden beacon for thousands of years and were still digging deeper.

"Am I here to learn from whatever Master Chief is after?"

Tevos asked aloud to the empty room. The superstructure of the ship rumbled in the background with a shift in velocity and gravity, and she shook her head slowly. She delved into her mind and scrutinised an empty spot on the bench top, finding the right way to structure the thought about her reasoning for being here.

It was a selfish reason, not a political one. She wasn't here for political movement; she was here for her own enlightenment. She'd had her five hundred and eightieth birthday two months earlier, and knew that for all the Asari's ability to live long lives, their ability to learn wisdom was proportionately scaled in the same manner as Humans.

Tevos had been groomed by Commandos, Admirals, and politicians, all hundreds of years her senior, and yet lacking the wisdom that their years offered them. When Shepard had spoken about the races uniting to defeat this new threat it had woken a residual hope that it was possible. But it had taken mere days for Sparatus and Valern to play their single species agenda driven political cards, and so her own hand had been forced in playing the same card.

Playing nice, playing politics and speaking of unification whilst offering intelligence that was solely for Asari gain. She was sick of it. She had inhabited the role of Asari Councillor for one hundred and fifty years and had seen the introductions and deaths of three Turian Councillors and seven Salarian ones, and each had been the same as the last, just as she had been the same as her predecessors.

She wasn't here because she didn't believe the Chief, she was here because she wanted to. To have the full possibility of his truth revealed to her and the galaxy at large, to have a meaning beyond upholding the status quo.

"FREIGHTER ENTERING NOVERIA AIRSPACE, ALL ORGANICS ARE RECOMMENDED TO BRACE."

Tevos's attention snapped from her internal questioning and answering as the Geth spoke over the ship's comms. She quickly rose from her seated position on the bench and reached the doorway in two strides. Just as it opened to allow her exit, the ship began to rumble and shake violently.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she caught herself within the door frame and made to stumble out into the hallway.

 **XXXX Noveria XXXX**

"Master Chief – Captain, this model of vessel is not rated for atmospheric entry."

John frowned behind the hardened glass of his visor and scrutinised the AI platform to his right with its three fingered hands delicately cradling the ships flight controls. Whether or not it was an oversight or plain politicking, it was a massive potential problem for him that the freighter wasn't equipped with a drop ship to enter atmosphere.

"Will the superstructure handle it?"

Legion looked to a small data feed to its right then back to the controls, then back to John. "If power is cut to all auxiliary systems and directed to the Mass Effect core, it should be able to withstand atmospheric entry."

"Do it."

It brought John a surge of relief as Legion immediately followed the order without question or concern, and its right hand reached out to the data feed it'd been reading into moments earlier. "FREIGHTER ENTERING NOVERIA AIRSPACE, ALL ORGANICS ARE RECOMMENDED TO BRACE."

"Open the blast shield."

Again, Legion did as directed instantly, and the metal blast shield that was positioned to guard the vulnerable glass canopy that separated the cockpit from the dangers of space slid back with a clunk just as the ship dipped into the icy looking atmosphere of Noveria and flames began licking over the ship from the high-speed atmospheric entry.

"Unidentified vessel, you are entering Noveria airspace without authorisation. Present authorization or prepare to be fired upon."

John frowned again at what he thought must be an issue that could either be an oversight or political game on the part of any of the Councillors. Like the Normandy, he had simply figured that any ship should have an IFF to identify its affiliation.

"Noveria command, we're here on Council business. Following up the Normandy's previous intel mission," John lied over the radio.

Legion piloted onwards undeterred by the lingering threat, and the door behind the pair opened, allowed Tevos to stumble in and land on her hands and knees as the ship bucked from a blast of turbulence. She quickly grasped the back of John's chair and pulled herself upright and around to the side of his chair.

She reached over John and palmed the radio, "Noveria Command, this is Citadel Councillor Tevos. We are here to verify the Normandy's intelligence. Sending authorisation codes now."

John leaned back in his chair as Tevos tapped a string of digits into the navigation panel in front of him and hit enter. A few tense seconds passed as another jolt sent Tevos back to her knees until finally, the radio crackled in response, "Authorization accepted, have a safe stay on Noveria, Councillor."

The momentary threat of Noveria's defences over, Tevos shot a concerned and angry look into John's golden visor. "You're landing this thing in atmosphere? It's a freighter!"

"We'll be fine."

"How the hell are we meant to get off the planet!"

John frowned in thought at the demand. He hadn't remotely thought that far, thinking only of the immediate issue of not being able to reach the objective unless they entered atmo.

"Master Chief – Captain, Councillor Tevos is correct. The Freighter's super structure will not be able to handle stationary take off even with all power directed to the Mass Effect core," Legion advised while still fixated on the controls.

"We'll be fine."

Tevos's expression answered more than any words could as her brow crinkled, her eyes widened and her lips pursed, a far cry from her normal perfectly composed expression. "We'll be fine? Are you serious! We won't be able to get off this-"

The Asari Councillors angry response was cut short as the ship jumped and she was launched into the air despite her grasp on John's chair. She landed unexpectedly comfortably as John snatched her out of her moment of zero g freefall and secured his grip around her bicep before dragging her into a sitting position on the arm of his chair in a split second.

"We'll be fine," He repeated. "Legion, update?"

"Approaching Forerunner site now; diverting power from Mass Effect core to reverse thrusters," Legion mechanically replied.

True to its word, their momentum immediately shifted, and they lurched forward in their seats, and the ship released a screeching metallic groan of protest. "Super structure at eighty-five percent integrity."

Tevos glanced at John's golden visor again with wide and fearful eyes. He caught the expression out of the corner of his eyes but kept his own glued to the glass canopy that showed the icy Noverian landscape slowing down beneath them. "We'll be fine," he repeated again.

It was apparent that Tevos doubted his calmly spoken foresight as she secured a death grip onto the chair and his leg plate.

"Performing wind shear."

Suddenly the view beyond the glass spun, and both John and Tevos felt their stomachs twist as the ship pulled hard to port and their speed dropped further again.

"Bringing fifty percent of ships power to reverse thrust."

Tevos lifted off the arm of the chair as all sensation of gravity left the ship, and John was once more quick to fish her from the air and pull her onto his leg.

"Diverting power back to Mass Effect core, integrity at seventy percent."

The internal gravity changed again, and the need for John to secure Tevos to his leg ended as their weight began to drop. Tevos spun slightly on John's leg with her lips parting to speak, only to be interrupted by a sharp jolt that had her slip across his other leg and the far side of the chair.

Then all movement ceased.

"Successful landing on Noveria, Master Chief – Captain."

John nodded his approval, rising from the chair and lifting Tevos up with him and setting her onto shaky legs. "Distance from Forerunner control room?"

Legion double checked the data feed then looked back to his new de facto leader, "Seventy meters due east."

It was a remarkable feat of piloting and navigation, having control crash landed a freighter rated only for space so close to the target with minimal structural damage, but John just nodded in acceptance. He reached over to the console next to Legion and keyed the intercom control.

"Crew, we've safely landed on Noveria. Prepare to disembark."

Tevos starred wide-eyed at the super soldier as he promptly keyed the cockpit door and headed along the corridor that they'd had a confrontation in barely half a day earlier as though this were the most normal thing for him. Legion followed in his footsteps a moment later. Tevos jumped in surprise, having forgotten about the Geth in her moment of incredulity.

She shook her head in disbelief and resigned herself to simply following after the pair just as John stepped beyond the next portal and followed the stairs down toward the rest of the crew and the rear loading doors. She passed by her chosen room and ducked in, quickly grabbed the small duffel bag with her personal effects, and made after the Spartan and his mottled crew toward where the icy air was coming from.

She arrived at the back of the group behind Kasumi, not at all surprised to see the rear loading door lowered as a ramp to the snow below. The thief turned and gave her a small smile as though to comfort her that she felt the same way about the radical landing, but quickly turned her eyes forward again as the small line started to move down the loading ramp behind the towering Spartan.

All sounds of any of the squad checking their weapons and gear were instantly drowned out by the roar of the icy wind. Tevos grit her teeth at the sensation of the wall of frozen air hitting her and instantly cooling her armour down on her skin, despite the durable gel layer.

"Come on, Councilor, not far."

Tevos looked up in surprise from her feet sinking knee deep into the snow with every step to see Garrus, not remotely having expected him to help her in any regard after his political perspectives were made clear. His Turian hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her after him a lot more fiercely than she was expecting, almost losing her footing and falling face first into the snow, she stumbled and yanked her arm back angrily as she righted herself.

She felt his presence hover for just a moment before he fell back into the tracks being left by the squad. Tevos glanced after him and mentally kicked herself, realising that he hadn't been attempting to drag her aggressively or anything wrong. That he'd simply been trying to correct her from attempting to form her own difficult path in the snow by dragging her into the tracks that the Master Chief was forging and the rest of the squad was expanding in his wake.

She shook her head and made quick time in catching up to Garrus. The air suddenly became several degrees colder despite the seeming impossibility of that in the icy gale as the group proceeded into the deep shadow that the still present mining laser was casting over the tunnel leading deep into the ice shelf.

"Everyone watch your step!"

The Master Chiefs unmistakable gravelly voice called from ahead.

Once more, the group started moving again, until Tevos was on the declining edge of the tunnel entrance behind Garrus.

"Councillor?" The Turian checked again.

Tevos waved a hand at him and nodded ahead, "I'll be fine. I wasn't always a Councillor."

That seemed to be good enough for the Turian who'd naturally offered himself as the one to watch over the group when the Chief wasn't, and he turned and made fast but sure work of catching up to Kasumi on the clearly slippery surface.

The Asari carefully stepped forward and pressed her rubberized boots against the surface to test it. Quickly finding it to not be as bad as feared, she too made fast work of catching back up to the group again.

The trek down the tunnel only took several minutes. Soon enough they were assembled around the super soldier on a grey metal floor ahead of a towering set of doors. Tevos's eyes widened in surprise of the mechanical structure as the newcomer reached out and touched the door with his gloved hand.

It screeched in response as internal mechanisms shifted and smoothly began to open the space up for entrance. "You have returned so soon, Reclaimer!"

The voice seemed to strike a nerve in everyone besides the squads' leader, Tevos noted mentally as she instinctively shivered from the acrid tone of the words.

"I need more information."

"Information is all I am, Reclaimer!"

Tevos, like the rest of the squad following more slowly behind the Chief now that they were within the structure, looked around the massive spherical structure lit from no visible point and adorned with a myriad of mechanical patterns in wonder with wide eyes. 

It was a structure that put preserved Prothean sites to shame on a simple scale of grandeur, let alone the hovering voice of the ancient alien AI that communicated with the extra-universal Human with such ease.

"Then why didn't you give me more the first time? Reverent Solitude?"

Tevos looked sharply to the soldier standing at the end of the bridge into the room over what could only be a control panel and sensed a wave of animosity radiating around the room toward him.

"Master Chief? Perhaps more respect to this being would be in order?" She called in concern.

The golden visor regarded her over his armoured shoulder for but a moment before the room became suddenly icier. "You think you have a voice here! You Asari, creatures of manipulation and corruption! I know the secrets of your civilisation, what makes you superior. You have worth to that of a Reclaimer? Such arrogance!"

Fear and shock instantly struck through her at the timely recognition of the Asari's betrayal without directly stating it. She opened her mouth to defend herself but was answered instantly by a hole opening in the ceiling above with the sound of a blade on blade and a drone shooting out toward her.

"Reverent Solitude! You will not touch my companions!"

The drone stilled, and the air swirled around the room as the AI battled the order within its thought processors.

The Spartan took advantage of the stillness and indecision of the Forerunner AI, speaking again with authority and demand lacing his tone. "First, you will tell me of your secrets, then you will tell me of the Asari's."

Tevos found his golden gaze fixed on her, along with that of all the squad who were all apparently clear enough on the fact that they should maintain their silence.

"Reclaimer… There is no Mantle here. Why should I obey you?"

"Because there will be, I'll fulfil the purpose that the Precursors made us for, in this reality or my own," Master Chief dictated as the knowledge that was new to him swelled to the surface of his mind.

 **XXXX Aboard UNSC Infinity – Enroute to UNSC Colony Reach XXXX**

"Roland, report?"

The loyal AI spun on the spot on top of the holographic tactics table as Thomas Lasky stormed onto the bridge, flanked by Spartan Palmer and Osiris minus the late Jameson Locke.

"Captain, as directed. I dropped out of Slip Space after picking up the Master Chief's transmission and rerouted to its source," Roland dictated with a crisp salute, for once lacking any of the sarcasm which so often characterised his expression.

"Captain?" Palmer asked, limping after him to the tactics table with her helmet tucked under her left arm. "Can we hear the transmission?"

"To think the Chief is still alive… Could this have gone different with him here?" Buck verbalised his presence as he followed in Palmer's wake to the tactics table.

He, Osiris, and the entirety of the Infinity had been through the proverbial ringer over the past few weeks. The war had returned eighteen months earlier with the Storm faction of the Covenant emboldened by the awakening and discovery of an ancient Forerunner whose intention toward Humanity was clear.

The only positive in the circumstance of the new rising threats was the return of the UNSC's greatest hero. But he'd vanished above Earth in defeating the Forerunner. He'd been declared dead and memorialised all over the remnants of the UNSC, and the war against the remaining Covenant continued with gusto.

Unbelievably, eighteen months later, Cortana returned through ancient Forerunner technology with clear hostile intention. Blue Team were sent to find her origin and suppress her with the back-up of Osiris.

Cortana had played her hand decisively and effectively. Having captured Blue Team and killed Jameson Locke as Osiris moved to free them. Under the quick thinking experienced leadership of Edward Buck, they'd escaped and made it back to Sangheilios where they'd rendezvoused with the Infinity, having gone through crushing of the Storm Covenant and playing cat and mouse with Cortana's new Guardians all over the system.

Then the cat and mouse game had continued immediately after Osiris had boarded, and as though fated, Roland had announced he'd picked up a signal from the Master Chief and under immediate orders from Lasky had reset their Slip Space coordinates.

"We can't know how anything could have gone. Roland, play it," Lasky ordered, motioning to one of the ensigns nearby to wheel over a chair for the exhausted and injured Spartan.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, calling any UNSC vessels. I have been stranded in an alternate reality through a Forerunner portal, requesting retrieval?"

There was a moment of deathly silence as everyone on the deck shared expressions of disbelief.

"UNSC Infinity do you read? This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117 calling for retrieval and assistance. I believe this station is generating a slip-space anomaly like the one that brought me here."

Lasky caught Sarah's wide eyed expression. Like him, she clearly had trouble believing the impossibility of what the unmistakable voice was saying.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117!" His voice returned, this time with more urgency. "All UNSC assets, disregard my previous message! There is no way back from here for non-Forerunner assets."

"No way back…" Buck echoed with a hollow voice and a knitted brow.

"Roland, think that is really the Chief? Do you think that's true?" Lasky turned his full attention on the smart AI who against all the odds was still loyal to the UNSC.

The AI shook his head in thought despite his lack of need to, looking up to meet his Captains eyes, "The Doc would absolutely say it's the Chief. It definitely could be… There've always been theories about alternate realities. But why would the Forerunners have tried to cross to them?"

"So you're saying that it could be true?" Buck questioned in astonishment. "That's crazy!"

"Sir… I know that our directive should be to protecting the UNSC and defeating Cortana, but-"

"-But, how could we possibly do that? And now we can literally escape?" Lasky spoke over Palmer giving her a knowing look. "And it's not something to be ashamed of thinking…"

"Captain, you can't seriously be saying we run away?" Buck spluttered incredulously.

"How can we possibly fight Cortana?" Olympia retorted with a sigh, "There could be thousands of Guardians, and they'd totally wipe us out."

Lasky shook his head with his gaze drifting aimlessly. This was not a position that he could have ever expected. To face an enemy that was so completely overwhelming that the best option seemed to be to run away and not look back. That in an instant Cortana had undone decades of UNSC defiance in the face of impossible odds.

"Roland, are we getting any UNSC signals?" Lasky asked, his mind clearly twisting and turning through tactical turmoil.

"None, Captain. The last one was just before we jumped to Slip Space."

"This is something that's happening on my watch…" Lasky started, his voice heavy with anger and disappointment. He looked up and met Sarah's eyes, then Bucks, before sweeping his gaze over Olympia, Holly, and the rest of the Bridge crew who were all fixated on their leader.

"How can we fight back against this? What can we possibly do?" Lasky's voice carried his emotions as he set his mind on defiance, a trait that had saved Humanity since first meeting the Covenant.

"We cannot defeat this enemy, but we can save Humanity. If the Chief's message is true, we can get through to this new reality and start fresh!"

"Sir…?" Sarah asked slowly with her mouth agape in awe of the concept of abandoning the UNSC.

"Roland, find us this portal and take us through!" Lasky ordered resolutely.

The AI nodded, "Should I send for the Doc, too?"

Lasky nodded before striding to the end of the command deck to press his hand against the glass that separated them from the wild ravages of the Slip Space dimension beyond. He turned and looked at the crew all staring at him with mixed expressions of fear, loss and wonder.

"We're not abandoning the UNSC. We are the UNSC, and we're saving what we can. We don't know what will meet us in this new reality if it's true. But we will meet it, and we will rebuild!" He stopped and squared his shoulders, only now fully realising the depths of his choices here, that this was the defining moment of modern Humanity happening in his words at the Master Chiefs invitation.

Sarah squared her shoulders, gritted her teeth through straightening her posture through her injury, and snapped a crisp salute. "Sir, I'll follow your lead!" She barked in the same manner as though on a parade field.

Buck, Vale and Tanaka instantly mimicked her, raising their right hands to their brows and their conflict clearing from their faces. "For the UNSC!" Buck chanted.

"ETA to Reach is nine days eighteen hours, Captain," Roland informed with a nod to the Slip Space realm beyond the glass.

"Osiris, Palmer," Lasky nodded from Buck with Tanaka and Vale assembled behind him to a pointed look at the resident commander of the Spartan detachment, "Go check in with medical. That's an order."

Lasky's brow rose in surprise as Sarah simply nodded and made a beeline for the door, her limp returning, and the remains of Osiris falling in behind her. As the entryway opened Halsey was framed by the brightly lit hallway beyond. She quickly stepped through before the four Spartans could prevent her entry, and marched directly up to Roland, bypassing Lasky completely.

"Roland, playback John's message," She promptly commanded.

"Yes Doc," Roland comfortably conceded as the message started again.

Palmer stopped in the door and looked back toward the tactics table as the Chief's voice sounded again. Catching wind of the realisation that she was probably expecting a form of confrontation with the volatile doctor, Lasky made a short waving gesture to send her on her way. Palmer paused and frowned slightly before a quiet word from Buck behind her made her nod and continue out of the bridge.

Lasky turned as the Spartans exited and regarded the conflicted Doctor, taking a moment to swing his gaze over all of his bridge crew and letting out a sigh of relief that they'd all digested his short but decidedly powerful speech and had returned to their duties without a qualm.

"Captain Lasky," Halsey addressed, turning from the table and Roland's pointed expression to her. "That is definitely John. I have no doubt!"

Lasky nodded, "I suspected you'd say that."

"I have to go to him!" Halsey's usual cold composure washed away in an instant. She stepped forward, her eyes wide and expression desperate, "I can take a Pelican through with equipment and try and bring him back!"

Lasky shook his head, "I thought you'd say that, Doctor, but that's not happening-"

"-You can not leave him there!" She interrupted with her eyes growing wider in fear and anger for her Spartan.

His hands rose in a placating gesture, having expected exactly this from the usually totally composed woman. He knew well and truly that her greatest weakness was the safety of her Spartans, and the foremost of them, let alone last of them. "We're all going through."

She blinked, frowned, took a short step back, and looked to Roland for his hologram to nod in agreement, before looking back to Lasky. "What?" Her frown deepened, "What if we can't make it back through?"

"We're not going to try to make it back through. We're going to shut down the portal and start fresh."

"What?" Halsey blurted incredulously, less a question than it was just sheer surprise and reaction.

"Doc," Roland drew her attention from Lasky. "There was a time when you expected us to lose the war, even with Chief out there fighting with Blue Team, don't tell me the idea of running away is so new?"

She shook her head and nervously patted down her coat, clearly conflicted over what to say or how to react.

"Doctor, this is a fight we can't win, that we can't even help in. At the very least, we can preserve the UNSC and Humanity's freedom." Lasky morally consoled, as much for himself as for her and all the crew within earshot.

Halsey's eyes steeled and her jaw clenched in mental conflict. She nodded slowly and met Lasky's eyes, "Thank you."

His brow creased in confusion at her thanks as she made her way back from where she'd come, "For what?" he called after her as she reached the door.

She turned back to regard him, "For looking out for my Spartans, for being the better man."

The crease of confusion across Lasky's brow stayed present as Halsey turned and left the bridge, humility being the last thing he'd ever expected from the dogmatic scientists who'd been the defining scientific mind of Humanity for the past six decades.

"You might want to go get some rest too, Captain. I can handle things for a while," Roland suggested from the tactics table with a nod after Halsey.

Lasky turned and looked from Roland to the rest of the crew and back before nodding. "If anything, ANYTHING, happens, alert me straight away."

"Aye aye, Captain." Roland snapped off a salute as he affirmed Lasky's command.

The man in question nodded, sent another look over his crew before turning on his heel and heading after Halsey, thankful only that his quarters, as well as all the bridge crew, were so close to the bridge.

 **XXX Noveria XXX**

"Please," John caught himself saying the word as it struck the painful memory of the last time he uttered it through his heart. Again to an AI, he cringed and said it again, "Please, can you shut down the portal?"

"I will not!" Reverent Solitude rasped again, with the same amount of vexation as John's request in the opposite.

It had been nine hours since arriving at the Forerunner site, and John had managed to convince the AI to give up its knowledge through repeated argument that the Forerunners were well and truly dead. That in this new reality he would strive to recreate the mantle, and if possible in the distant future, the Organon which the Forerunners had coveted so fiercely.

"My knowledge is now your knowledge, but this is my duty, the final task left to me by the Forerunners."

John turned the crystalline chip between his fingers in yet another inspection, having been given it hours earlier after Reverent had conceded on giving John all of his recorded knowledge. Having affirmed yet conflicted with his own statements that John as a modern Human with a gene song within was the rightful bearer of all Forerunner knowledge.

"I can be your final task. Help me recreate the Mantle? Leave this place? Seek out whatever the Forerunners built?" John implored to the invisible presence that lived in the machinery of the structure.

He'd realised that Reverent Solitude wasn't being intentionally difficult, that even the greatest of the Forerunners AI would succumb to time with a level of mechanical insanity. He was sure that the AI was suffering from his own version of Rampancy, and that clinging to his duty of maintaining the portal was likely the only thing separating him from complete madness.

"Reclaimer, the Precursors plans reach far, through time and space and worlds. Where could these portals come from?"

John's only answer was silence, as was the still silent squad behind him, all randomly strewn on the floor in as comfortable positions as were possible for what was turning out to be their long stay here.

"The Precursors had more in mind than just you coming through that portal. I'll see to it that more truth emerges from this place."

"Reverent," John started tiredly, shaking his tired head and looking into the empty space before him at a loss for what else to say. "If any UNSC forces get here, they'll be trapped here, like me! What if Covenant make it through? What if somehow, somewhere, the Flood come through?"

"The only way to close this portal will be my destruction, and you are not capable of that!"

John shook his head again, this was hardly the first time that the AI had threatened his own life over the facility, and John sensed that it was the final point that it wouldn't budge on. "Okay, Reverent Solitude, you'll be remembered for your help. Can you send signals to the Citadel?"

The air in the room shifted in the way that reflected the constructs moods, but for the first time, rather than anger as had become the norm, the shift felt excited.

" **UNSC Infinity to Master Chief, do you read?** "

John paled at the voice that he'd become familiar with only a few weeks prior and his failure to protect the UNSC from falling into the accidental trap he'd set. In a way that was all too typical of his life, his luck held true in the worst of ways; impossible success at an irretrievable cost.

"Master Chief to Infinity, I read. Come down on my waypoint."

The air became even more excited as the Reverent's voice boomed through the chamber, "More Reclaimers! Come to rebuild the Mantle! The portal will stay!"

John clenched his jaw in frustration at the AI. His plan was set to ensure that Humanity wouldn't be the victim of a Forerunner construct again. "Squad, we're leaving."

He turned and marched through the group toward the entrance and the tunnel beyond, the squad all rising from their near slumber to quickly catch up to him, all casting nervous glances back to the active console that symbolised Reverent Solitudes presence.

"Chief?" Garrus asked as they quickly came to the base of the tunnel and started upwards.

"A UNSC asset has arrived. We're shutting the portal down." John commanded without slowing his march.

Tevos shared in the uncomfortable expressions that the squad chasing to keep up with the Spartan wore. The expressions quickly shifted as they stepped out of the tunnel into the crisp dawn light, the air clear of the storm that had assailed them upon their arrival, leaving the view of the massive warship above all consuming as it drifted through the atmosphere as though it were made of frictionless materials and light as a feather.

"By the spirits…" Garrus whispered to himself in awe that was reflected in each of them, even Grunt's slack jawed glee.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm stoking the fires of my creative writing! Every time I get back into it and remember how much I enjoy spending my spare time writing I struggle with working out how I can so easily forget that when I go off writing.**

 **This is where the story will really start to diverge from Canon story progression.**

 **A few review responses:**

 **Nosferatu2255 –** Thanks! There are some other great Halo/ME Fanfics on here, but I felt obliged to write this partly because none of them struck the Halo – ME Balance that I wanted to read, so to scratch that itch I started on this. I hope I keep on keeping you into it! And romance, I plan to include one for me, but not sure exactly who yet. Should it be an ME character or a Halo character? Since I've introduced more UNSC elements in this chapter. And I'm undecided on the Andromeda point.

 **Mteran305 –** Certainly a way of saying you're enjoying it! Thanks! I hope you love this chapter too.

 **Guest Guy –** My personal take on the H5 story direction is veeeeery variable to what might happen in H6. But either way, I thought the direction of H5, like you said, was the best point to drag the Infinity into this. As to Lasky, I filled in his and the crews anxiety and fear toward facing the Guardians in the start of this chapter to make his abandoning of their reality seem more understandable. Kind of like that take that no matter what they do, they cannot stop Cortana, at least in running away they can preserve the UNSC. I hope you like the progressing direction though!

 **Xyprose –** Mostly answered your point in the above response ^^ : -)

 **Minecraft93 –** I've decided to deny Blue Team and Cortana direct first hand entry into this story. I figure that in Halo canon they play major influential roles in John's development, so thought it best to keep his different character progression free from them in this.

 **Ferox Pretorious –** This one is kinda filler too! But hopefully with enough new elements to draw you into it. Looking forward to your thoughts!

 **Chapter Eight  
.:: Heed Thy Might, Cometh Reclaimer ::.**

In an instantaneous change in the light streaming into the Infinity bridge from the seamless transition from the inky blackness of Slip Steam space back to normal space was the final nail in the coffin that brought back a flood of fearful anxiety in everyone present.

"Successful transition back to normal space, all crew to battle stations," Roland's voice called over the shipwide intercom, snapping Thomas' back from the brink of indulging in his anxiety about both the super massive threat of Cortana and what he was about to be responsible for.

"Roland, have you found the source of the transmission?"

"Yes Captain, we're moving toward it now," The AI advised, drawing up a holographic image of the glassed former fortress world on the tactics table. The UEG colony was highlighted on the surface -not far from where New Alexandria had once been- with a rippling point in space suspended in high orbit above the colony.

"Doctor, where are you?" Lasky growled into the intercom in frustration that Halsey wasn't already on the bridge with him.

On cue, she strode onto the bridge and straight to the tactics table, waving off Lasky's lingering anger. She too, like the rest of the crew, was anxious about their circumstance and what they were about to do. But they likewise had faith in their Captain and agreed with the heft of his terrible decision.

"Roland, what readings do you have at the point of origin of John's signal?" Halsey asked in an all business tone, "And what on earth are the chances of the anomaly appearing over a UEG colony over a former prominent UNSC world?"

"Radiation readings are almost like an incomplete Slip Space portal, ETA ten minutes," Roland reported back to Halsey.

"Captain!" Another Ensign called from his station on the port bulkhead.

Seeing Lasky nod at him, he continued, "Getting signal pings from the UEG colony, do I put them through?"

The question struck a bolt of disappointment through Lasky. He knew that in any normal circumstance any of his bridge crew would immediately and automatically put through any UEG or UNSC signal as a rule of thumb. But for the past nine days in their Slip Stream Space voyage from Sangheilios to Reach all of the crew had been informed of Lasky's command decision, which Spartan Palmer and Doctor Halsey had publically backed him up on to the crew.

They'd all had nine straight days of absolute safety to mull over their thoughts while knowing that beyond the path that the Infinity was traveling on within Slip Space, that the entire UNSC and Human empire, let alone all of the other species of the galaxy were being oppressed by what seemed to be an impossible enemy.

That they all knew the depth of this course of action, and even now, feared allowing a UEG signal through of the thought that it might compromise their mission to preserve what they could of the UNSC.

"Put it through," Lasky affirmed with a sad expression and a nod.

"Infinity do you read? Repeat, UNSC Infinity, do you read?"

"This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, we read. What's your situation?" Lasky spoke, looming behind the Ensign who was keeping the channel open.

"Captain, we've lost contact with everyone. Everything on site is fine, terraforming restoration is continuing on schedule. We were not expecting you?" The somewhat panicked masculine voice expanded on Lasky's request.

"The UNSC is under attack, it's not Covenant. We're here to investigate an anomaly in orbit. Are you able to evacuate?" Thomas asked rapidly, looking over his shoulder to see Halsey giving him a concerned frown. He gave her a dismissive wave, his own frown equally concerned and conflicted.

The other end of the line was silent for a full minute before the voice came back lower than before, their dread clear, "That bad, sir?"

The simple three-word question struck everyone who heard it, but like their Captain, they each steeled their resolve and stayed on their tasks. "That bad. Are you able to evac in Pelicans?

"Send us rendezvous coordinates; we'll bring everything that we can."

"Ensign, you heard him," Lasky patted the ensign on the back as he turned and strode back to the tactics table, trusting of his crewman to send the information briskly and accurately.

"Captain, surface readings showing a complement of seventeen pelicans lifting off, looks like they're heading to haul their terraforming machinery into orbit with them," Roland informed Lasky as he stopped next to the holographic surface and peered more closely at a representation on the planet's surface of what the shipboard AI described.

A small fleet of the standard UNSC troop and equipment transports all having cables attached to them from workers on the ground to machinery the size of a Mammoth. "Will they be able to make it to orbit?"

Roland nodded, "I'd say so Captain, that equipment is incredibly expensive, so I can't blame them wanting to evac that too."

"Doctor? Thoughts on this anomaly?" Lasky nodded from Roland's rendered holographic of the pelicans to the pinging point in orbit above it.

"It sounds remarkably simple, but I believe we will only need to open a Slip Space portal on the anomaly and enter it to traverse to this other reality," Halsey explained with her right hand cupping her chin and her lips pursed in thought.

"So you're suggesting that these anomalies have been orchestrated for easy use?" Lasky slowly asked; jumping to a conclusion based on the simplicity of traversing from one universe to another.

"I'm not suggesting anything, Captain. I am just guessing from what we know so far," Halsey explained, looking from a nodding Roland to a confused Lasky. "We know that eighteen months ago John must have travelled through one of these when he destroyed the Didacts vessel, we also know that when that occurred that there was a static Slip Space portal being generated. And now, based off very little readings, we can compare the subspace state of the anomaly to a partial Slip Space portal; this is just an educated guess from the facts that we know."

"Would that build up to the supposition that these anomalies have been placed here for us?" Lasky pried into the anxious suspicion that was gripping his chest, speaking again over Halsey's move to, "What are the chances that the first one of these ever encountered by a Human saves the Master Chief, of all people? And then eighteen months later gives us, in the most powerful and well stocked Human warship ever, a chance to escape and start fresh?"

Halsey's brow knit in clear frustration, more from her lack of knowledge on the same supposition. "That's neither here nor there, I can't answer that question. I can just say how I think they function."

"Coming up on the anomaly now, Captain," Roland brought their attention away from the troubling possibility.

Both of them, along with most of the bridge crew looked out the forward view screen in an attempt to identify the anomaly that Roland had rendered as a ripple on the tactics table. Not seeing anything at all Lasky glanced to the AI.

"It's not a physical object, it's like a tiny fracture in subspace," He explained to the searching eyes of his commander.

"Right," Lasky nodded and reached onto the tactics table, manipulating the display back toward Reach.

"Evac Pelicans are breaking low orbit now, ETA three minutes." The AI dutifully answered the unasked question.

"You've sent them coordinates for the launch bay they'll be docking with?"

Roland nodded, then frowned, "Yes, but we've gotta hurry! Slip Space transition readings on the far side of the planet, it's Cortana!"

The air seemed to freeze for a split second before Lasky was reaching for the comms. "Evac crew! You need to be on board right now!" He keyed off the ship to ship comms and reached for the intercom, "All crew, brace for Slip Space!"

"Slip Space drive is engaged, ready to move. Bringing ship about to proceed." Roland pre-empted Lasky.

"Captian, how are we meant to stop Cortana from following us through?" Halsey was likewise fearful at the sudden arrival of the Guardian and the instantaneous change of pace of their departure.

Lasky shook his head, unsure of that answer, instead, keeping all of his attention on the display showing the Pelicans race across space toward the heavy equipment hanger without the usual deceleration of a normal approach. The seconds felt as though they'd become hours as the vessels with their equipment suspended under their hulls came to a roaring halt in the under belly of the Infinity, and the ship sprung into motion.

A familiar circular hole into blackness opened up before the view screen and without pause the ships emergency boosters fired, sending them racing into the blackness. Unlike any normal Slip Space transition where they'd move into the black realm impossible to perceive with the human eye, they simply passed through the hole and emerged instantly in normal space.

"Successful traversal of the anomaly, that's not Reach down there!" Roland called hurriedly as the tactics display transformed to depict an icy world beneath them. "All scanners engaged; Master Chief detected!"

"John…!" Halsey gripped the table in wonder at the simplicity and impossibility of their travel and discovery of the lost Spartan.

"UNSC Infinity to Master Chief, do you read?" Lasky keyed his comms.

His familiar gravelly voice replied instantly, "Master Chief to Infinity, I read. Come down on my waypoint."

The line went dead, and Roland was once more commanding the movements of the super dreadnaught pre-emptively to Lasky's orders, bringing the ship down through the upper atmosphere of the icy planet.

"Commander Palmer, gear up and launch two Pelicans to retrieve the Chief as soon as we pass through the stratosphere," Lasky ordered over the intercom.

 **XXX Novera – Surface XXX**

"By the spirits…" Garrus muttered, gazing skyward at the enormous ship breaching the atmosphere above and descending toward them.

John nodded to no one in particular then looked back at the squad behind him. "That's the UNSC Infinity, a supercarrier. They've launched two drop ships for hot dust off. Something must be wrong…"

Again, the Spartan was moving faster than the squad could comfortably keep up with. Grunt doing the best of all of them in ploughing through the snow in the soldiers' wake, past the downed freighter into clear space.

"Don't be worried," John called to them as he jolted to a halt at a distance from the freighter that he obviously deemed appropriate. "I've informed them that I have alien company, you'll be safe."

"Goddess…" Tevos wheezed between breathlessness and amazement as she shoved between Grunt and Garrus to look up into the Spartans faceplate. "That thing," She jabbed a finger skyward at the full might of the UNSC and the two dots that were speeding from it toward them, "Is your retrieval? Are all of your ships like that?"

John shook his head, "No, she's the first of her kind, but the tonnage of your vessels is a lot smaller than ours, and not exactly."

"Not exactly?" Grunt asked, clenching his jaw in confusion, looking toward the two quickly growing larger dots and back to the new squad leader.

"That ship has the best of the best onboard." John explained with a nod upward and a small shrug that he was sure only Tali would have caught if she were present, "They'd know not to come through the portal to retrieve me. They shouldn't have come through at all. They are here for something else."

"I get the feeling it's not something fun?" Kasumi questioned with forced mirth in her voice. Not even she seemed able to make light of the presence of such a massive military vessel.

John shook his head and looked up to the approaching Pelicans as they drew near enough to be heard and seen with detail growing by the moment.

"They're not going to attack us?" Tevos asked quietly to the towering man.

John looked down at her and frowned at the fearful look in the alien woman's eyes. "Of course not. The UNSC's allegiance is to democracy and freedom."

Tevos looked up again, passed the Pelicans which were moments from landing to the warship that dominated the skyline, doubt written all over her face. John pushed the Councillors concerns to the back of his mind as the leading Pelican performed a wind shear and spun to land with the troop bay open in a swirl of snow being picked up from the engine turbines blasting the ground.

John instantly recognised the Spartan who jump out in her light grey scout configuration armour. "Chief! We've got to dust off quick!"

John noticed her visor linger on the aliens around him for just a moment before looking back to his own, "Really quick! Everyone on board!"

He nodded, and the Spartan women barrelled through the hip deep snow that separated them by several meters and firmly yet supportively grasped Tevos around the waist and forcefully ushered her back into the troop bay of the Pelican she'd jumped from while the second one rose back into the air. John looked to the squad, and nodded after Palmer, "Everyone on the ship, it will be explained soon!"

He was glad to see that they trusted him enough from their brief but stressed past with him to instantly move on his command, and they moved ahead of him and behind the newly arrived Spartan woman into the waiting troop bay. John was the last aboard, and the Pelican was moving before the bay had a chance to close.

"Spartan Palmer," John greeted as he grasped an overhead rail, the door closing behind him, and nodded to the women standing in a similar position closer to the cockpit. His question drew her fixated gaze from Tevos to where his eyes were behind his visor. "What's the situation?"

John could very easily imagine the brief jaw clench, and furrowed brow of frustration on the sable haired Spartans face despite it being hidden from view as she paused and tensed for a brief moment. "We'll be docking in the command hanger to get you into the bridge as quickly as possible. The Captain and Halsey can explain better."

John nodded, and he was sure that she, like himself a moment earlier, was reading the most likely reaction beneath the armour.

"Master Chief – Captain, we anticipate the sharing of data. The Geth are open to new alliances."

John nodded toward Legion, then back to Palmer. "This reality has a complicated political structure. Legion is from an AI race who are technically at war with the rest of the galaxy but are wanting to form peace treaties with their makers."

The Spartan woman nodded slowly, looking from Legion to Garrus next to it. Garrus spoke for himself before John could, meeting her reflective visor without a flinch, "My name's Garrus, I'm a Turian," He nodded towards Tevos, Grunt and Mordin seated on the other side of the bay, "She's one of our politicians, Tevos is an Asari. Grunt is a Krogan, doesn't have much of a political standing, Mordin is a Salarian, one of the prominent species, and…" He nodded his head toward Kasumi to his right, "She's obviously a Human, newcomers to the galactic community."

"Right," Palmer nodded, memorising the information to share with Lasky at soonest convenience. "And your situation?" She asked back to John.

"Could be worse," He shrugged, "But I need Captain Lasky to lay out an airstrike on the Forerunner structure down there."

"Noted," She nodded just as the Pelican swung around, making them all brace.

The door opened a moment later, and John was the first to disembark, waving subtly to his squad to follow after him. They were all fast to rise and hustle around him, allowing space for Palmer to stride past them and take point in moving around the Pelican they'd landed in and past the second one, which had flanked them in the small hanger bay reserved for command level missions.

The bulkhead ahead of them hissed open, and they passed through, marched past half a dozen doors in the corridor before stepping into an elevator. It shot into motion, and moments later the doors were opening, and the group took a sharp left and marched toward the only door ahead with "Bridge" stencilled above.

The door slid open, and natural light assailed their senses. "John!"

John recognised the voice instantly and had a wave of emotion barrel through his heart from the conflicting ideas he'd formed about his pseudo mother figure.

Thankfully, he was saved from having to consider his emotional perspective on his maker right away as Lasky made a small symbolic step toward him and demanded his attention, "Chief, it's good to have you back! What's the situation?"

The Captain's eyes linger on John's visor for barely a moment before drifting to the aliens assembled behind him wasn't a wasted detail on the super soldier.

"You need to destroy the Forerunner facility ground side. There's a Forerunner Ancilla that won't close down the portal."

Lasky nodded slowly and motioned an upward point to Roland before looking back to John, "We got your transmission. We didn't just come here to retrieve you…"

The angle of the horizon through the forward view screen changed as the vessel accelerated toward low orbit.

"It's Cortana, John… She survived against the Didact, she's taken over all the leftover Forerunner technology and attacked the UNSC," Halsey explained as she stepped closer to her favourite Spartan.

Beneath his helmet, John frowned, he couldn't simply accept either Cortana having been able to survive the nuclear detonation or turning against the UNSC. He clenched his jaw and steeled himself against the uncomfortable revelation to deal with the matter at hand.

"Sir, we can't allow the portal here to stay open, I can deploy-"

"-Chief," Lasky interrupted with his palms opened placating. He nodded toward the view screen as the ship shed the atmospheric bonds of Noveria and reached low orbit. "I agree. Cortana's Forerunner constructs were right behind us. We're here to ensure the survival of Humanity."

John's eyes widened at the choice of words and the severity of the threat that Cortana represented became clear to him. That in such a short period of time she'd become dangerous enough for an officer as upstanding and dedicated as Lasky to consider and accept the idea of fleeing into the unknown to keep Humanity free.

"MAC capacitors are fully charged, sir," Roland reported from the tactics table.

"Good, bring us about and fire on the Forerunner facility immediately," Lasky ordered with his lips set in a grim line.

The ship rotated in space, and the view quickly shifted back to Noveria. "Roland, highlight the facility."

John looked at the tech infused hardened glass where a red arrow lit up over a tiny dot far below them. It shifted across the glass slightly as the Infinity aligned herself to fire. A nudge against the Spartan's arm brought his gaze down to Tevos's half angry half fearful glare, "You're letting them fire some kind of super weapon at a peaceful world!"

John frowned again as a wave of frustration flowed through him at Tevos's lack of understanding of the situation, and he resigned himself to simply shaking his head and looking to Halsey, who, like Lasky, looked grim and despondent to the reality of their actions. Her remaining hand clenched so tight that her knuckles were pearly white and her eyes were more concerned than he'd ever seen.

The sight of her in such an emotionally vulnerable state sent a wave of pity for her through John's heart, and he realised just as he struggled with what he was thanks to her, that she struggled with what she was thanks to the culmination of history thanks to the Forerunners.

"For the UNSC!" Lasky chanted uncharacteristically as though on a parade ground with his hand raised in salute. Everyone on the deck instantly reflected his posture, rising from their stations to salute the point far below that signified their choice of action.

A dull rumble went through the ship as the two super MAC rounds fired and barely a split second later the point beneath the red arrow on the surface exploded.

"Roland, two more."

The superstructure rumbled again as an instant later another two shots impacted the same spot, sending billowing clouds of vapour and debris skywards from the explosive force of the impacts. "Forerunner signature destroyed, Captain," Roland reported.

"Sir, terrestrial signal hailing us again!" An ensign called from his station along the wall to the right.

Lasky grimaced as he looked from the destruction he'd just ordered on the planet below to the ensign, "Put it through, we've got to find a way to fit in here now."

"Unidentified vessel! You have just fired on a neutral world in violation of Citadel law. This is an act of war!"

Tevos stepped in front of John and squared her shoulders at Lasky, "Captain!"

His eyes snapped to her, then to John standing behind her without any form of discomfort. Reading the body language of the experienced Spartan, Lasky relaxed his posture and nodded to the blue woman as a sign to continue.

"You just fired on a peaceful world! What kind of people are you?" Tevos hissed angrily, her eyes alight with barely withheld rage.

John put a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her a step back in a clear sign of reducing the borderline hostile approach. "Captain, this is Councillor Tevos, representing the Asari people in the galactic democracy that exist here."

"Councillor," Lasky nodded to her, then nodded to Roland's hologram. "Roland, bring up a scale image of a Guardian compared to the Infinity."

Roland's spectre nodded and next to him the Infinity materialised with a Guardian looming next to it.

"Councillor, that thing is called a Guardian. The aliens who built that facility down there also built these to dominate and enforce peace on every other species of the Milky Way. We came here to escape them, and there was one right behind us."

Tevos glared angrily at Lasky then swung her gaze back to John. "How can I believe any of this!"

John wasn't so socially inept to not understand that Tevos wasn't actually asking him to explain it, that she was angry and in all likelihood, feeling threatened and looking for somewhere to put her anger. Regardless, he nodded to her as he answered, "Because you already know for a fact that neither I, nor this ship and its crew, are from this reality, and that the kind of firepower that this ship has doesn't exist here. Why would they fire at an uninhabited alien structure otherwise?"

Tevos frowned angrily and glared at the towering man before looking back to Lasky with an accusatory expression. Before what would surely have been a torrent of anger could burst forth, Garrus put a hand on her shoulder from behind to draw her attention.

"Councillor, I'm inclined to believe the Chief and the Captain," Garrus nodded to Lasky and the tense crew assembled around the bridge. "Do any of them look like they're happy that they just did that?"

"I assure you, Councillor, that we would never fire on a peaceful target unless it was imperative to survival," Halsey advised in support of Garrus's argument. "We are here to survive; we could not let the threat follow us here."

"I too believe the Master Chief and his people, Councillor Tevos," Mordin chipped in from beside Palmer.

Tevos pursed her lips and shook her head, looking from the crew she had arrived with a day earlier to the newly arrived extra-universal Humans. "Captain," She sighed in defeat to the emotional conflict raging within her, "May I contact them?"

Lasky nodded and looked to Roland. The AI, in turn, nodded back, "You're on."

"Noveria, this is Councillor Tevos, do you copy?"

"Councillor! Why are you aboard the hostile vessel?" The same voice from the day before shot back hurriedly.

"A dangerous infection was discovered in a buried Prothean ruin," She lied smoothly, looking around rapidly in thought as she constructed a believable story to attempt to gloss over the fact that there was now a crater adorning Noveria's southern pole. "This prototype vessel was deployed by the Systems Alliance to prevent it from spreading to the surface and beyond."

The line stayed quiet in response. Lasky and Tevos shared a concerned grimace at the telling of the lie, but Lasky's silence affirmed to the Asari woman that the Human completely understood the need for political lies.

"All other means of containing it were completely exhausted…" She added as the silence stretched another minute.

"That is indeed very unfortunate," The voice finally replied.

The choice of words made it clear to John and his small crew that it was more than likely a Salarian on the other end of the line. He couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the alien in some form of administrative role being presented with this kind of issue and how massive it would no doubt seem to the small colony.

"I trust that you will be explaining this to the Council?"

"Of course, I am here at the Council's request to confirm the existence of the pathogen that the Normandy discovered. A full report will be made on this," Tevos continued, pushing her political influence as far as she dared with her lie.

"That is at least slightly reassuring, for such drastic measures." The voice replied, "Travel safe, Councillor."

Tevos's chest rose with a deep intake of breath followed by a long drawn out sigh. She looked from John to Lasky, all the anger having left her eyes, only tiredness remaining, "And I thought Shepard was hard to deal with…"

John gave a small nod to Tevos before resetting his mind back to the objectives at hand. "Captain, I obtained a range of information from the Forerunner AI." He produced the data crystal and offered to the Captain.

Before Lasky had any chance to retrieve it, Halsey pushed past him and deftly collected it from John's waiting hand. "What did it say?" She queried, her eyes alight with excitement for more knowledge.

"It just explained the basic history of Humanity, the Forerunners, and the Precursors, and then everything from when the builder ship arrived here. It said that this contained the sum of Forerunner knowledge," He nodded to the thin data chip-like crystal that Halsey was peering closely at.

"Ancient Human history!" Halsey declared in awe, her eyes snapping from the artefact to John. He wasn't surprised that it was a topic that grabbed her attention.

There was a time before meeting the Didact, at the end of the Covenant war, where he believed that the Forerunners may have very well been an ancient Human civilisation. But meeting the Didact, then the Librarian, and having knowledge and evolution implanted into his genome, his grasp of the facts of history had exploded beyond even what Halsey in all of her hunger for knowledge could only dream of.

"Humanity in this Universe has a different origin than ours. The Forerunner AI didn't recognise them as Reclaimers."

"John, you have changed…" Halsey wondered into his visor, turning her attention from the data crystal to her greatest creation.

"Yes. I have, Doctor."

"Sorry Doctor Halsey," Lasky interrupted, "But I'm going to have to keep this show moving along here. What are our next moves?"

"My story has been confirmed and we have data on the Reapers-" John paused, gave a pointed head nod to Halsey by way of explaining he'd tell her all shortly, and continued toward the Asari, "-We can drop you back off at the Citadel and go about preparing for them to arrive."

"What?" Tevos spluttered at the blunt strategy. She made a show of looking around the deck with her arms spread, "You don't think arriving at the Citadel in this thing won't cause a panic? You really want to present your people to the galaxy with something that will seem like a threat?"

"She's right if we're here for the long haul, we need to play in and learn the landscape. What kind of Slip Space drives does this Citadel use?" Lasky asked.

"Why don't we just show up at this Citadel place? Not exactly as a threat, but to impress upon them that we aren't going to play games," Palmer reminded the bridge of her presence.

Halsey shook her head and met the Spartan Commanders eyes, "That would be a foolish idea. Councillor Tevos should arrive with a small contingent first and declare us as incoming. These people are our new neighbours, and we've just come out of a fight, we don't want to pick a new one, do we?"

"I agree," Mordin looked Halsey up and down and referred back to hearing her addressed by Lasky, "With the Doctor. But we do not have access to your Slip Space technology. We utilise a technology called mass effect using a naturally occurring resource which according to the Master Chief doesn't exist in your universe called Element Zero. In conjunction with massive Mass Effect engines all over galaxy called Mass Relays, we are able to travel light years in seconds."

"Seconds…" Halsey trailed in wonder, "Does a vessel need a mass effect engine to use one of these Mass Relays?"

"No, it doesn't. But there aren't Relays for every star system," The Salarian answered before curiously looking to John. "But the Forerunner AI explained that the existence of Element Zero in this galaxy exerts a different mass onto this slip space dimension that you use."

John nodded to Halsey, "He's correct. Reverent Solitude briefly explained that Slip Space transit times here were exponentially faster than back in our galaxy."

"Roland, can you access this?" Halsey asked, placing the crystalline chip on the tactics table.

A field of light swept over the small data carrying device and Roland beamed up at the bridge crew, "Sure can Doc! According to the Forerunner readings on this element zero, it changes the slip stream currents on several subatomic levels. Some are almost like the normal distance between location A and B within Slip Space has been expanded or stretched, so it's not as far or bundled."

"And what about these Reapers?" Lasky drew their slipping attention back to the keyword that had held his attention since hearing the Spartan II use it.

"According to a man named John Shepard, an Alliance Human Commander, they are a sentient machine race who have manipulated the various species-"

"-Woo woo," Roland interrupted John, his golden holographical animated eyes searching into the chip at his feet. "The Forerunner Builders recorded their… Cycles, twice: sentient semi-organic machine race. The Forerunners' extrapolated that they created this Mass Relay network to direct and manipulate the technological progression of all space faring species, to make them easier to harvest every fifty thousand years. They use the organic matter of species to help structure new Reapers, then retreat beyond the rim of the Milky Way and wait for the next cycle."

"Fascinating…" Halsey cupped her chin in thought as she bent over the table and peered at the chip that Roland was virtually reading into. "I would assume this must be some form of preservation of life measure, at least from the perspective of a machine."

"Regardless, Doctor, I assume this is an enemy that your people are shoring up against, Councillor?" Lasky pulled Halsey's scientific curiosity back to the politicking at hand.

Tevos shook her head and shot a glum look from the Spartan II to Garrus, "Like the Master Chief was saying. Commander Shepard discovered the Reaper threat several years ago with his crew and has been fighting to slow their arrival, but he didn't have sufficient evidence for us to officially take action."

A long sigh escaped Lasky's lips, and he shook his head, "So a galaxy threatening enemy, with almost no one in the galaxy ready to fight it, and here we are…" His eyes searched the faces regarding him for direction before falling on the one individual whose face he couldn't see. "Chief, you've been here the longest. Give us the run down, tell us what we should do?"

John froze for a moment at the very unmilitary approach to his verdict on what to do, and a flash of memory of meeting and saving a much younger Thomas Lasky sparked behind his eyes. The recollection of his affirmation just a week ago to David Anderson about his position within any commanding structure stirred his spirit. "I arrived here two weeks and two days ago-"

"-Interdimensional time dilation? You disappeared from Earth eighteen months ago," Roland interrupted.

John shrugged in response to the AI, he truly didn't know the quirks of trans-universal travel, before resuming toward Lasky. "Within a day of arriving I came into contact with the Human Alliance Commander John Shepard of Normandy, I was recruited into his mission to destroy a race of beings called Collectors who were working for the Reapers; according to him. After discovering this Forerunner site and communicating with the Ancilla, we continued on the mission and tracked the Collectors to a construct in the galactic core-"

"-But isn't the galactic core just a massive black hole and constant super novas?" Halsey interrupted again.

"Yes, however, the Collectors had a pocket of safe space using Reaper mass effect technology," Mordin answered with a nod to the Doctor.

John tilted his helmet to the Salarian, imagining him and Halsey being naturally attuned to forming some form of scientific friendship. "We discovered a partially constructed Reaper being made from Human colonists that the Collectors had been abducting. Judging by the capabilities of the Collectors and the incomplete Reaper, I would say that the Reapers represent a near Covenant level threat."

"Then we blew it up! Ha!" Grunt grumbled, finally having a topic to add that brought him clear mirth.

"Shepard keyed the destruction of the station, and we escaped back through the Relay," John clarified. "Then after returning to the Citadel, a mega structure space station used as the seat of government, Shepard was detained by the Alliance for our actions in destroying a Mass Relay in an alien system a few days earlier after discovering that the Reapers were days from arriving in that system."

"And this Council still didn't believe him, after all of that?" Lasky asked incredulously.

"The evidence taken from the Relay incident and the assault on the Collectors was deemed inconclusive," Tevos defended with a frown, and her arms crossed over her chest plate.

Lasky shook his head and glanced to Halsey, then to John, then to Palmer, before looking back to Tevos, "If our people had ever been so afraid to act then we'd all be gone-" He shook his head at the alien woman as he paused and looked back to John. "So what do you think should be done?"

Within his helmet, John knit his brow in thought. He regarded Tevos and considered the small group of aliens following him and the exclamations about the Infinity arriving via Slip Space at the Citadel. "The UNSC is a new player in this theatre, it needs to be represented to the Council to try and draw the battle lines against the Reapers, and the remaining Forerunner assets have to be recovered."

Halsey's eyes lit up, "Remaining assets?"

John nodded slightly, "That structure down there was just a part of the Builder ship which arrived here."

"There's a navigation log in this thing," Roland confirmed to them, "Looks like they headed toward the spur of the outer arm."

"The furthest reaches of habitable space?" Halsey mused in thought, looking to Lasky.

Lasky shrugged carelessly at the supposition and looked back to John and Tevos in front of him. "I'll send three Stridents to your Citadel. Commander Palmer, are you up to being in charge of a role like that?"

Palmer's eyes widened at the question, and she shuffled her feet slightly at the unexpected request, "Actually, sir, I'd think Spartan Vale would be more suited to that job."

The captain nodded, and looked back to Mordin, "And you're sure that our ships can use these Mass Relays?"

"Ships?" Tevos asked.

"Yes of course, so long as you can transmit and receive electronic signals detailing the mass of your vessel, you can use the Relay network." The Salarian responded with a glint of excitement in his eye at the thought of seeing the new technology in action rather than the standard Mass Effect travel, ignoring Tevos's question like Lasky had.

"Roland, inform Vale and Majestic to board Strident One," Lasky dictated, looking from the AI to Palmer, "Sarah, I'll need you to escort Councillor Tevos there."

"Sir, I'm going to the Forerunner asset," John advised following Lasky's orders to the crew around him.

Lasky paused and regarded him for a moment, meeting the spot on his visor that hid his eyes, "You know Chief, after everything, you've got more authority here than me. We all owe you."

The towering Spartan stilled at the humble words of the calmly spoken Captain, looking to his maker and seeing her smile sadly and give a small nod of affirmation. Instantly his thoughts went to his Spartans, to Blue Team, and to Cortana. The thought of them, knowing that the fact that Blue Team hadn't been mentioned yet spelt their demise robbing him of any feeling of achievement of satisfaction in finally being freed of the burden of servitude.

He grit his teeth and stored the lingering emotions to be dealt with later and nodded to the Captain, glad for the humility that the less experienced man wore proudly. "I'll see the Councillor off, Captain."

John turned and motioned to Palmer, and reflective of the Captain's words to him, the Spartan woman gave him a firm nod and proceeded back to the door, slightly waving for John and the Asari to follow.

Before doing so, John looked to Garrus, Mordin, Kasumi, Grunt and Legion, "Team, brief Captain Lasky and Doctor Halsey while I'm gone."

"Yes, Master Chief-Captain," Legion mechanically answered for the small group.

John didn't waste a second in following after Palmer and Tevos as they stepped beyond the bulkhead and started down the corridor beyond. He caught up to the two in three long strides, and looked down to see a small smile pulling the Spartan woman's lips up in a soft arch, "It's good to have you back, Chief."

 **XXXX**

"Slip Space coordinates locked in, initiating transition now, Commander Palmer," The Nav officer from his position just back from the forward view screen advised over his shoulder.

Sarah nodded toward the view screen, unseen by the officer, and nonverbally directed Councillor Tevos to look into the void beyond.

Catching the pointed look, Tevos ceased her explanation of galactic politics and diplomacy to Vale and looked through the glass just as an inky black hole skirted by shimmering rings of light opened up in front of the ship. She barely had a moment to marvel at the amazing feat of technology before they accelerated into it.

"Nav, ETA?" Sarah asked the Officer.

The man's fingers danced across the holographic keyboard at his fingertips as he virtually navigated the slip space realm around them. He shook his head, "It's hard to say, Commander… Slip Space here is different from back home…"

"Commander Palmer, I would predict an eight minute travel time until we reach the coordinates of this Mass Relay."

Sarah bit her lower lip as she withheld her wonder, and looked at the golden yellow representation of Roland standing on the tactics table -smaller than the one aboard the Infinity- next to hers and Vale's helmets. "Thank you, Roland. Can you analyse-"

"Already doing it, Commander. I'll collate all the data we collect here to return to the original me."

"Good," She answered with a content nod and checked her hands behind her back just above her rear in an at ease stance.

"You were saying?"

Sarah casually rotated on her heels to look to Vale reinitiating her lesson on this newfound galaxy with the Asari politician.

"Actually, I do believe that covers almost everything," Tevos said with a slow nod to the black ops Spartan who still managed to be closer to an academic.

"So these, Galactic codex's," The Spartan linguist paused and made eye contact with the Asari, "Are easy to get?" She continued

"Yes, normally they'd only cost a few credits with a basic omni-tool from a vendor, but being diplomats, C-Sec will issue them for free."

"Interesting…" Vale mused.

"What's that, Spartan Vale?" The fragment of Roland asked -his holographic brows raised in curiosity to the Spartan's muse.

"Well, this galactic society of races in many ways doesn't sound very different to the way that socially, politically, economically, and militaristically the UNSC and her colonies worked. In some cases, it's a bit more exaggerated, but it's like the species all fit into a form of galactic caste system, which is a point that's unlike the UNSC technically."

"You're suggesting that we've been manipulated?" Tevos asked back.

Vale shrugged, "I'm not exactly suggesting anything, but that would make sense with this Citadel, and Mass Relays having been built by these Reapers to control the direction of your technology. That can control the direction of societies too."

"This can all be a lot to take in… Just last week the most unsettling thing was Shepard arguing about the Reapers with flimsy evidence, now I'm aboard a ship with Humans from another reality travelling through a different dimension with the evidence Shepard lacked," Tevos shook her head. Regret grated through her as she thought of the Prothean beacon on Thessia. It had never yielded any evidence directly about the Reapers, but it had always alluded to them, Shepard's allegations should have gained more traction despite the lack of physical evidence.

"Coming out of Slip Space."

The Nav officers' announcement brought everyone's eyes back to the view screen as in an instant they were back in the normal star dotted space with the familiar shape of a Mass Relay dominating the void ahead of them.

"Travel time of eight minutes with a baseline travel time of twenty minutes, Strident two and three arriving now."

"What does baseline travel time mean?" Tevos asked past Palmer to the Nav officer dutifully reporting the successful jump.

The Officer looked to Palmer for permission, upon receiving a nod he glanced over his shoulder to the Asari to acknowledge her before looking back to the task at hand with double checking the math for the mass of the frigate. "Slip Space is a bundle of seven dimensions of space time which react very differently from normal space-time. It took us eight minutes to get here, but in real world time we left point A twenty minutes ago."

Tevos frowned, the notion both made sense to her and confused her in the same hand.

"The more we navigate Slip Space here, the quicker our real world transit times will likely become, there are certain eddies and currents to slip space and the better they're understood, the better they're navigated."

"Right," Tevos accepted the information without a qualm. She was no scientist, and she was already struggling with a number of uncomfortable truths that had been imparted to her in the past day.

"Report on the Infinity?" Palmer commanded.

"Readings suggest that she's departed, Commander," Roland answered immediately. "And Officer Cotter, your maths is right, that amounts for the mass of this vessel."

"So, we just transmit our mass to the Relay, and it will plot our course?" The Nav officer inquired doubtfully over his shoulder to Tevos.

She nodded, "Yes, accelerate toward it at docking speed as you transmit."

"Do it," Palmer backed up the Asari.

"Confirmation from Stridents' two and three; transmitting and accelerating now," Roland answered before the Nav officer could fore fill his intended role.

The ship sped forward toward the glowing core of the relay, blue streaks of energy lanced out from the Eezo engine like lightning and wrapped around the ship. The bridge crew stared through the viewscreen wide eyed as everything changed to streaks of light for several seconds before being confronted with a sparkling blue nebula with the mega structure that could only be the described Citadel nestled within.

"Welcome to the Citadel, Commander," Tevos declared.

Contrary to what the Asari councillor was expecting, Palmer barely gave her a nod of recognition before looking to Roland. "Stridents' two and three?"

"Both just arrived in flanking formation, bringing it up on tactics table."

"Thank you, Roland," The Spartan Commander nodded in all business mode, stepping back from behind the Nav officers chair and the view of the space station beyond to lean over the holographic emitting table. Now depicting the three Strident Heavy Frigates departing from the Mass Relay at cruising speed, multiple small cargo ships both arriving and leaving through the Relay around them.

"How do I play this, Councillor?" Sarah finally asked after several silent moments peering at the Citadel being rendered on the hologram and the tracked distance.

"What do you mean?" She asked with a confused frown.

"The truth is pretty unbelievable, isn't it?" Sarah added, looking up into the Asari's conflicted expression.

"Commander?" The officer seated to the right of the Nav called. Hearing the lack of response beyond silence, the blonde woman continued, "Incoming signal from the station, multiple craft on intercept course."

"Roland, heat up the MAC and put through that signal. Coordinate with the other Stridents'."

"Unidentified vessels, you are in violation of Citadel Council space without permission, prepare for boarding or be fired upon!"

Sarah frowned at the aggressive warning over the radio and met Tevos's eyes. "This how you make friends?"

"I'm guessing they're Turians? The same ones who started a war with the Human Alliance for not knowing the Councils laws about Mass Relays…" Vale added with a knitted brow.

"Thirty ships designated Vahrdona class Cruisers on intercept," Roland advised, animating it onto the tactics table. "All weapons are hot. I think I can take out around a dozen and make a clean getaway if things go south."

"Good," Palmer nodded, looking at Tevos, "Now, like I said, how do we play this?"

"By the goddess… What was your galaxy like?" She shook her head at her own rhetorical question and motioned for Roland's attention, "Can you put me through to them?"

"You're on," He responded with a small thumbs up in the affirmative.

"Citadel fleet, this is the Asari Councillor Tevos. I am onboard the Alien vessels following a peaceful first contact on Noveria. I have accompanied them here for peace talks with the Council!."

"Sorry Councillor, I am going to have to ask for your verification codes?"

Tevos nodded subconsciously to the stringent Turian military behaviour and stepped closer to the tactics table. Preempting her question, Roland rendered a holographic keyboard display. The Asari didn't waste a moment in typing a string of seemingly random letters, symbols and numbers.

"Verification checks. We'll escort the Cruisers to the Citadel Tower docks. Expect a heavy C-Sec escort and check all weapons before disembarking."

"Tower docks marked," Roland quipped, "Want me to bring us in?"

Sarah smirked to the AI and the representations of the Turian Cruisers that hadn't covered half the space between them yet. "Do it, and have Majestic assembled without firearms at the forward starboard airlock."

"Aye Aye," Roland mock saluted as the ship rumbled with power and sped forward.

The action was represented on the tactics table with the other two Stridents' following close behind and quickly closing the gap between them and the Turian vessels, within a minute they'd breached the territory dominated by the arms of the station and the large looming aquatic looking vessel that sat waiting within.

The three UNSC ships deftly manoeuvred around the underside of its' hull, missing by mere meters with the utmost grace as they sped toward the centre of the megastructure.

"Roland, you handle the docking. And remember what Tevos said about AI's. In no circumstances do you reveal yourself to them!"

"Aye aye, Spartan," Roland saluted the stern Commander. "I'll be quiet as a mouse."

She nodded and glanced through the view screen as they decelerated and neared the tower that reached into space from the Citadels core. "Nav, the bridge is yours." She turned on her heel and marched to the door, "Come on." She ordered abruptly as she passed Tevos and Vale, snatching up her helmet as she did.

Acknowledging her diplomatic and political rank, Vale ushered Tevos ahead of her to proceed behind Palmer as she likewise retrieved her helmet from the table. The quick march from the bridge down the central dorsal corridor for twenty meters before turning left in the starboard airlock.

"Majestic," Palmer greeted them with a nod to the unhelmeted and unarmed blue armoured Spartans.

"Commander Palmer," They echoed back in unison before catching sight of Tevos and giving her a notable once over.

"Helmets on at all times on this station," Palmer started sternly, sparing a brief glance to the doors beyond the small squad as the thuds of docking clamps announced the imminent greeting. "No aggressive movements whatsoever! But no submissive gestures either."

"Yes sir," Thorne saluted.

"Mission parameters?" Grant asked in her heavily accented voice.

Palmer nodded to Tevos and Vale, "Councillor Tevos and Spartan Vale are our VIP's. This is a diplomatic mission where we need to represent the UNSC's strength and capability. We are to assembled behind them and escort them to these Council chambers under Councillor Tevos's directions."

"Commander Palmer?" Madsen asked as he hefted his helmet over his head.

The sable haired Spartan nodded to him to speak with an impatient tap of her foot.

"If this is such an important diplomatic mission, shouldn't we have our faces out?"

Palmer could hear the uncertainty and unease in his voice. She couldn't blame him. Upon the discovery of the Slip Space anomaly over Reach and their escape through it, Lasky had the conversation on the Bridge relayed through the entire ship, so everyone knew their situation; to the extent that they knew it was an entirely new situation.

"Good question," She paused and looked at each of them, capturing them under her authoritative stare, "There is already a Human race in this galaxy, they even have a planet Earth. We need to keep our Humanity out of any public eye until we've created some form of a treaty with this Council and we've decided how best to proceed. Got me?"

They all nodded in acceptance just as the doors behind them opened up. Palmer quickly pushed her helmet over her head and gestured for Vale to do the same. "Make a hole." She ordered, to which Majestic obeyed and stepped aside to allow the Asari to lead them out.

Palmer took a position behind Tevos in two long strides, looking down on the top of the shorter aliens head as she, Vale and Majestic emerged from the airlock into the white and grey docking umbilical.

Neither she nor her Spartans paused or showed an ounce of concern as two dozen rifle bearing armoured, but unhelmeted aliens jogged into the umbilical from ten meters away. Palmer identified them as the Turian creatures, one of whom had been following the Master Chief. To the credit of the Citadel forces, she identified the only other alien leading the squads as an unarmed Salarian who was clearly in charge of the easily aggravated avian looking aliens that put here somewhat in mind of Jackels.

"Councillor Tevos," The Salarian called as Palmer, and her group closed the gap between them and the squads with Tevos leading the way.

"Captain," Tevos nodded to him, then made a show of frowning over his shoulder to the Turians. "Is this how you want to greet a new people to the Citadel?"

The Salarian followed her frown to the Turian's and quickly looked back, "Sorry, Councillor, standard first contact procedure. Especially when three large and heavily armoured cruisers show up at the Citadel out of the blue."

Palmer smirked within her helmet. She was silently glad that she'd given Roland the go ahead to rush their approach to the Citadel to strike a little bit of fear induced respect into the aliens.

Tevos starred the Salarian down for a moment longer before hissing angrily, "Well! Are you going to escort us to the Council chambers?"

"So-Sorry Councillor!" The Salarian stammered in fear at the unexpected bark from the normally publically placid woman. "Squad, fall out. Flanking formation!"

"They look pretty well armed, Commander."

Palmer glanced from the corner of her eye at Spartan Thorne to her left as he opened a private squad channel. "According to the Chief's brief report, their weapons don't pack as much punch as ours. If anything goes wrong, we should be able to neutralise this squad and escape."

"All due respect, Commander," Vale quipped from next to Tevos. "I don't think the Councillor wants anything to go wrong either. These Turian aliens just seem really aggressive and jumpy."

Palmer scoffed, "They think they're the military might in this galaxy."

"Spartans… Commander," Tevos refined her line of question, prompting Palmer to switch off the radio channel and step up next to the Asari. "Do you know how you want to explain yourself, for your Captain?"

"Captain Lasky would prefer to tell the simple truth," Palmer instantly answered, her eyes shifted from one door to the next in the corridor they were walking along toward what looked like a large freight elevator. She looked back down to the Asari and took a small amount of comfort in the aliens apparent comfortability in the space.

"But I'm not sure how well that truth will go down," She finished and sent another quick tactical glance over the Turian soldiers.

"You mean that you don't think the Council will believe your story? Even though I'm here?"

Palmer shrugged and looked down into Tevos's eyes, "Our government back home had tons of truths that they'd keep from the people because they knew how people might react."

Tevos shook her head toward the floor just as the freight elevators doors hissed open and half the Turian squad proceeded within, leaving enough room for Tevos and the Spartans and the lone Salarian escort.

They stepped in, and within moments the doors hissed shut, and the capsule sprung into motion.

"There have been many mistruths in our Citadel Council alliance over the past, it should be time for that to stop."

"I'm more than happy, to be honest to your Council, but however it goes from there is up to you. The Captain just wants to preserve the UNSC," Palmer shrugged again, silently she wished that she wasn't Lasky's go to for political VIP ops.

The Spartans all stood statue still while the Turians jolted slightly from the sudden but smooth halt of the elevator. The doors opened, and this time Tevos lead the way out into a purple hue lit cathedral room with alien trees next to each short flight of stairs and various bench seats.

The total lack of any other individuals, alien or human, told Palmer that this was usually a communal area, and had in all likelihood been cleared for their arrival. They proceeded up several small flights of stairs before gaining sight of three assembled Councillors on a balcony ahead.

The Salarian took the lead and marched them all halfway along a bridge that separated the balcony from the rest of the room, "Councillors, the delegates have arrived."

"You and C-Sec are dismissed," The dark skinned human man called dismissively.

The Salarian made to speak back, but a pointed glare from the man quickly ended any debate, and the Salarian cautiously stepped past Tevos and the much larger Spartans and motioned for the Turians to follow as he quickly marched back from where he'd come.

"Now, on behalf of the Citadel Council, we welcome you!" The Salarian member of the council called from his elevated position.

Sarah frowned within her helmet and looked to Tevos. Seeing the Asari begin to move her mouth in response, she quickly held up her open palm to silence her. "What kind of government are you that you want to conduct a first contact meeting with new arrivals from an elevated position with the new people in a form of submissive position?"

Sarah saw each of the Councillors eyes widen at the accusation, and was glad in her diplomatic skill to have launched such a jab without sounding at all angry or offended.

Tevos made to speak again, but her words failed her and another few seconds of silence flowed before the Human Councillor spoke again. "I agree."

His simple statement was quickly followed by him stepping behind and past the Salarian as he found the staircase hidden from view from below and was soon walking along the small bridge toward them.

"Councillor!"

The Turian hissed from his position above, to which the man simply waved off as he stopped a meter from Tevos. "Councillor, I wasn't expecting you back so soon, let alone with some of the Chief's friends."

"Neither was I, Anderson." She answered and gestured to the pale grey armoured Spartan to her right. "This is Commander Sarah Palmer, of the UNSC Infinity."

"Councillor Anderson," Sarah greeted, but rather than salute as would be appropriate, she offered her hand toward the shorter man, hoping it would be the sign of an equal and that it would help form a more personable bond.

He smiled at the action and accepted the shake. "Commander, that's some ship you've got! I watched you come in."

Sarah tuned out several angry sounding words from the two Councillors still situated above and frowned with her focus on Anderson as she realised that he clearly thought that the Infinity was the Strident she was commanding, "Oh, no Councillor. That Strident frigate is just one of the Infinity's compliment."

"Ah, I see…" Anderson answered slowly, clearly not quite comprehending what Palmer meant.

"To think we've had a demand cast on us by a newcomer! Unbelievable!" The Turian growled angrily as he revealed his presence behind Anderson with the Salarian trailing behind him.

Palmer once more spoke over Tevos as she stepped clear of the group so that she had a clear line of sight down on the shorter Turian. "If your people had arrived in our space peacefully, we wouldn't put them into a physically submissive position to hold peace talks."

Tevos physically intervened, placing herself between the Spartan woman and Sparatus, "Commander Sarah Palmer is correct, Sparatus. We should have completely stopped using such political stages long ago!"

All eyes turned to Sparatus as he physically withheld his anger. He shook his head in frustration and seeing all three of his fellow Councillors giving him a disapproving look he took a small step back and nodded to the Spartan. "Apologies, it would appear that you are correct."

"So, Commander Sarah Palmer," The Salarian mimicked Tevos's usage of her name, looking into the slit of Sarah's reflective silver visor, "Who do you represent, the people whom the Master Chief came from?" It was clear that the slender alien thought so as his curious eyes hungrily travelled each and every line of the Spartans armour.

"We are UNSC Spartans," She paused and drew a breath of concern before clenching her jaw and reaching up to lift her helmet from her head. "We're Human, from a different universe."

"More of this other universe garbage!" Sparatus half laughed half roared, spinning to find support in the eyes of any of his fellow councillors.

They each ignored him and looked to the de-helmeted woman. "Commander Palmer, I assume by you being here and the Chief not, that his mission to find Forerunner assets is going well?"

Sarah grimaced slightly at the change of direction of the question and tilted her head toward Tevos who in turn grimaced. "The UNSC warship, the Infinity, arrived a day after arriving at the Forerunner facility. Immediately after arriving, Master Chief ordered an orbital strike on the facility to shut down the portal to prevent the UNSC's enemies from coming here."

"We were being pursued by a galaxy dominating AI and her warships," Palmer spoke up quickly in defence of their actions. "If that portal stayed open we'd all be oppressed by now."

Anderson held up his hand and nodded over his shoulder to Valern, "I believe you. I met the Master Chief face to face, he's an honourable man, I don't believe he would do anything wrong unless he had to."

Sarah's ready and waiting defence died in her throat, and her eyes slightly widened at the generosity offered by the man. She nodded and reached into her hip pocket, producing a standard UNSC data chip. "Chief took all the info available from the facility about the Reapers recorded over the past hundred thousand years, Captain Lasky wants to form an alliance so that we can defeat this enemy."

"But your Captain didn't think being here was important enough to come himself?" Sparatus ground out angrily.

Sarah shook her head incredulously and sighed in relief when Vale answered in her stead.

"The Captain is hunting down the remaining Forerunner asset with the Master Chief," She paused, and Palmer could see it was intentionally for dramatic effect as Vale looked from one councillor to the next making eye contact. "If you had any experience with Forerunners you'd know how important it is to nail down their facilities to secure galactic safety. They had –have- the power to wipe out all life in the galaxy."

"Spartans, you don't need to argue your points to us. The fact that you are here shows your peoples commitment to alliances when you already had tasks at hand that you could see to be more important," Valern responded calmly.

"So what kind of alliance or treaty does your Captain want?" Anderson followed immediately.

"With all due respect, Councillor," Palmer started with a nod and her eyes meeting Andersons. "We've got enough crew to begin a colony and start on rebuilding the UNSC, we have no interest in serving your Systems Alliance or the Citadel Council, but we are more than happy to work with you to help create a safe galaxy."


	9. Chapter 9

**So work has been madness! I'm writing whenever I can, but really enjoying writing this so I shan't be abandoning it. Hope everyone enjoys and reviews their thoughts and ideas.**

 **I can't express enough how much your reviews showing your enjoyment, curiosity, interest and constructive thoughts help me in writing this and inspiring me to improve.**

 **Review responses:**

 **Trife:** Thanks! That's actually partly a reason why I did this. None of the ME – Halo stories I'd read fit what I felt would happen with the Chief and the UNSC's behaviour/effectiveness. And about the Turian's; they were always a contradiction to me in ME Canon. They were the most militarised species in ME and were the go to for example of military power and might, and were a self-confessed warrior styled society, and then with the profile of the First Contact War we get the full picture of what they behave like as a species. But then when it comes to their interactions in ME I feel like they were "humanised" a lot like most the other races to be easier for Bioware to write and for the gamer to empathise with. I'm hoping that I can distinguish their behaviour as a part of their alien culture.

 **Little Liar(Guest):** You're in the right place then!

 **VexEchoUmbra:** Thank you very much! Like I've said, I do want to steer the Chief in a somewhat different character direction than Halo Canon, just for the purpose of it being a fanfiction. So I'm introducing more emotional turmoil from the perspective of him adapting as a man, not just as Spartan soldier, and him learning to handle the emotional knowledge instilled from the Librarian and how that all balances on his new ambitions.

 **MikeyP:** Thank you. I usually write in something of a hurry and edit in as much of a hurry. I should (and will try) to be more attentive to my errors.

 **Ferox Pretorious:** Your predictions are on the money. This chapter is essentially filler, but that's what it is about. And hopefully you like how much this will massively begin to diverge from canon from the set up at the end.

 **The Mexican Taco Overlord:** Hindsight 'tis a terrible thing! Would have sounded better, but no matter. : )

 **Zoltan-Atreyu:** Better than most is good enough for an after work hours hobby for me! : ) Hope you keep enjoying.

 **Coduss:** You'll love the picture I'll paint of the Turian's if you love how I'm showing Sparatus then ;) Seriously changing the ME Milky Way landscape with this chapters set up.

 **PopularFallacy:** I probably haven't gone as in-depth as I could have, and I didn't commit enough time to writing this to be able to explore the diplomacy as intimately as I should have, but there are some important diplomatic set ups in this chapter.

 **Guest('s):** To the one criticizing my statement about the UNSC. Well, that's your opinion based off what Halo lore you're versed with. The Halo lore I'm versed with (like the Guest supporting me) shows the UNSC as a military power that seized emergency control during the war, and did hand power back to the UEG as soon as the primary threat passed. That very fact shows their willingness to live in a democratic society.

 **Chapter Nine  
.:: Reclamation and Revelation ::.**

 **January 30/2186 - Systems Alliance Earth Date**

 **XX Infinity Bridge**

"This is something else!"

"Roland?" Lasky asked the AI. He looked up from his stooped over position on the stool he'd pulled up to tactics table where he was reading star charts of notable locations across the galaxy drawn from the Forerunner data crystal.

The Navigation officer spun in his chair "He's right, sir. This is incredible!"

A pointed look from Lasky made Roland beam in excitement at the discovery within the data crystal that they were experiencing first hand. "Slip Space here is like nothing you'd believe. We just crossed the bulge of the Perseus arm."

"We've just travelled the entire distance of the UNSC's former territory in two hours," The Navigation officer conceded with eyes wide with in amazement.

"Roland, have you rendered a map of the galaxy yet?"

In response to Lasky's question, a meter wide representation of the Milky Way appeared on the tactics table. The Captain glanced at it then back to Roland, "Can you add the locations and territories of known planets, colonies, home worlds and our trajectory?"

"Aye Aye."

First, a wave of red dots lit up across the map, quickly followed by far less green ones. "The green ones are active Mass Relays, and red are inactive," Roland explained as he clicked his fingers and two dozen more blue dots lit up on the map, some larger than others. "They're points of interest. Home worlds, their Citadel, so on… The Forerunner AI had been recording just about everything using Slip Space signalling."

"Slip Space signalling?" Lasky asked with his brows creeping up in curiosity.

"It's a form of Slip Space transmission, Cortana discovered that the Covenant could somewhat use it after she and the Master Chief captured the assault carrier Ascendant Justice following the events of the first Halo discovery. Same with anything to do with Slip Space, the Forerunners had mastered it," Roland recited his growing knowledge from reading into the crystal.

"And they didn't require any kind of physical probes or receivers to do this?" Lasky queried further as his eyes grew wider with the realisation that the data crystal was likely full of Forerunner scientific understanding that the Infinity could employ.

"No Captain. Hell, it looks like the Builder ship that arrived here could cross half the galaxy here in minutes." Roland continued as his avatar stooped over the crystal on the tactics table.

"So they picked this spot," Lasky pointed his finger top into the holographic sprawling blue nebula at the end of the trajectory that was grower nearer by the second, "Because it was out of the way?"

"That would appear to make sense," Roland agreed. He clicked his fingers and all of the red and green lit blips representing the Mass Relays pulsed. "That entire area is almost like a dead zone set away from all of the Relays."

"You mean that the Forerunners destroyed all nearby Relays?"

"I don't think so Captain," Roland shook his head, and the map expanded to zoom in on the sprawling red and blue nebula at the edge of the galaxy. "Considering that the Mass Relays are the epitome of technology in this Milky Way, I think destroying any would gain the attention of these Reapers. I would say that there was probably a supermassive supernova a long time even before the Forerunners arrived that wiped out a whole bunch of them."

"Why wouldn't these Reapers go back and rebuild them? Aren't they about directing the technological progression of new races?" Lasky instantly rebutted doubtfully.

"When I say a supermassive supernova, I mean supermassive, Captain," Roland said, crossing his arms and zooming the map back out again, highlighting a six thousand light year radius around the nebula. "The Forerunners didn't pick up a single habitable or primordial world in this area. It would probably take another supernova to essentially reseed this area of space with natural potential."

"What a convenient coincidence…" Lasky mumbled over the table and looked back at the glass that separated them from the inky blackness of Slip Space. He took a few steps away and clasped his chin in thought before slowly turning on his heel and looking back to the AI whose avatar was still stooped over the crystal.

The mere fact that a new generation smart AI was committing so much of its processing power and conscious attention to the crystal spoke volumes to Lasky how much information was stored within. He felt a surge of regret that such a discovery couldn't have been made months or years ago back in their native reality.

How it would have changed the tide of the war without the need for a single Spartan to become Humanities sole champion. How it would have saved millions or billions of lives and dozens of worlds, and how it would have prevented the culmination of events that lead to them abandoning the very reality that they knew as home.

He shook his head to clear it off the fringe of depression that lingered on the edge of his mind from his choice and refocused his thoughts to the UNSC's play in this new version of the Milky Way. "And what do we know about the political structure here? Who are our allies going to be?"

"Not much in the crystal for that," Roland conceded. "Besides some tactical and political espionage info; like how the Asari, one of the technologically dominant races, have a few secret hidden Prothean artefacts that they've kept from the other races and used to secure their technological dominance."

Lasky nodded and silently wished that either Halsey or Glassman were present on the bridge for a more empathetic and equally intellectual human perspective. "So we'll need to rely on the Master Chief's intel for that until Sarah and Majestic get back."

"Seems so, Captain, not like his intel isn't good though. He got a lot of good reads on the kind of culture each race has and the way that affects their politics."

"And what do we know about the Systems Alliance Humanity?"

In an immediate response, next to the Milky Way map, a holographic representation of a man with a regulation buzz cut and crinkled skin sprung up. "That's the Admiral turned Citadel Councillor David Anderson. In many ways, this Humanity seems to be a lot like our own back home. But semi recent history seems to be moulding them along the paths that these Reapers would want."

Lasky stroked his chin in thought and imagined seeing the Mass Relay and the Citadel on the holographic representation. He wondered if the Forerunner's had done something similar back in their world if life would have been so moulded by it like it had here. He clenched his jaw and shook his head with his brow crinkled and a momentary spike of anger as it occurred to him that what the Forerunners had left behind had moulded the direction of life in the reseeded Milky Way dramatically, to modern Humanities detriment.

"From the Forerunner's readings on the former cycle, the ruling power was a race called Protheans'. According to this, they discovered Mass Effect science and the Citadel before any other species from ruins left behind from the cycle before them, and rather than form a democratic government, were an imperial power. So all other races became a part of the Prothean Empire. In a round-about way, the same thing is happening in this cycle. There's the Citadel governed space, which mostly covers the space of all the allied species, and each species is assigned roles to play out from economic and militaristic stand points." Roland started curiously as Lasky peered more closely at the galaxy map as the regions of space belonging to various factions pulsed.

"The Asari retain the most of their own original culture and capability, whereas Humanity is in the process of conforming to the Citadel way of things, which is essentially becoming a specialised tool for the Citadel government and losing their generalist ability." Roland finished with his arms crossed.

"So, to break it down simply," Lasky began, poking his finger onto the small representation of the Infinity on the map to highlight their flight path. "Each race here did start out with their own fully functioning generalised and multi-skilled society, but over time under the Citadel Council rule, they have been refined into serving a single purpose? And the Asari aren't as much like that because they're the dominant power?"

"Essentially, yes Captain," The AI agreed with a nod.

"And what about this Cerberus group Chief mentioned? What do we know about them?" Lasky continued to pry.

"Ahh, that's where things start to get a little more interesting, Captain. They're labelled as a terrorist organisation with pro-Human motivations. This is more or less a direct reaction to the Citadel Council trying to control Humanity into serving its purpose like they successfully did with all the other races-"

"-They call themselves revolutionaries, right?" Lasky interrupted the AI's explanation with a scoff.

"From what I can tell, they probably would. But the interesting part is that they mostly just don't want to conform to Citadel rule and apparently don't trust aliens."

"So you don't agree with them being called terrorists?" Lasky asked.

Roland instantly shook his head, "Oh no sir, they're definitely terrorists. But they're just an interesting Human cultural reaction to the Citadel Councils semi-oppressive style of governing. It's like economic and cultural imperialism."

Lasky quickly shook his head in frustration, and his thoughts drifted to Palmer with Vale and Majestic, wondering how they must be dealing with these cultural issues being presented to them first hand. "Roland, can you adapt that Slip Space Signalling with our hardware?"

The AI nodded, "Halsey and I can probably sort that out fairly quickly."

"Good," Lasky instantly responded, "I want you to send all that info to Halsey, have it ready asap and send everything we know to Palmer as soon as we can."

"Sent," Roland instantaneously advised as he drew up a holographic representation of each of the Citadel species. "And how do you think we play in with this bunch?"

Lasky stepped along the tactics table and pinched the hologram of Anderson and dragged it toward the aliens. "I'm happy to be allied with all of them, but we won't follow their orders, and we certainly don't need their resources. Our primary objective is to find out what the Builders were doing and set up our own base of operations before showing any of our hand to the Citadel and preparing for these Reapers."

"Aye Aye, Captain," Roland dutifully saluted in return, the tactics table around him filling up with a recorded history of the current cycle for Lasky to read over.

 **XX S –deck**

"We were sent after Blue Team to back them up after Fred-104 transmitted that he'd been contacted by Cortana through the Forerunner Domain and that she was looking for you. Osiris; Tanaka, Vale, Locke and Me followed, and we finally caught up with them on Sangheilios where Cortana activated one of the Guardians," Buck explained, his expression downcast as he did his best to keep his eyes glued to Master Chiefs golden visor standing a head taller.

The stationary sandy green giant remained unmoved from the beginning of Buck's recounting, making the former ODST cough to clear his throat and continue. "We ended up on a Forerunner planet called Genesis. Cortana lured Blue Team into a – ahhh-"

"-A Cryptum," Tanaka filled in for the stony faced Buck struggling with the right word.

Buck nodded to her with a sad turn of his lips in thanks for the clarification, "Into this Cryptum thing. So we tried to break them out." He stopped and shook his head at the recent memory, and his jaw flexed from the clench of frustration.

"That Warden Eternal Forerunner AI we mentioned earlier," Tanaka stepped in again, holding her gaze on John's visor much more resolutely than Buck had. "A whole bunch of him turned up, Locke and the Monitor almost got to the Cryptum, but he was killed, and we were forced to retreat. The only reason we got away was that the Monitor held Cortana's Prometheans back."

Tanaka finished and a moment of deafening silence stretched between the three Spartans despite the constant sound of marching boots, loud talking and machinery in the background. John finally nodded to both of them, "Thank you."

Both of the younger generation Spartans' eyes widened in surprise at the given thanks as the legendary Spartan reached up and hefted his helmet from his head and let it hang loosely from his left hand. He regarded the two with a solemnly sad expression with his larger than average bright blue irises shining in the bright lights of S-Deck.

Acting on his latest prerogative to distance himself from the controlling military structure that had dominated his life, and from a lesson learnt from Mendez in his early teens, John offered his open right palm in a shake rather than a salute.

Again, both of the Spartan IV's regarded both the revealed face of the Master Chief and the unorthodox gesture with wide-eyed surprise. Buck was the first to recover, and his expression shifted into a grim smile as he reached forward and reciprocated the handshake. "To help Blue Team was my honour, Sir."

Buck released John's hand after a brief moment, and Tanaka took his place a few seconds later. Unlike Buck, she was much more able to put on a pleased face thanks to her relative youth and lack of experienced war compared to the former ODST. She looked up into the face of Humanities champion with a clear look of pride in her eyes.

Her hazel eyes met the abnormally large blue eyes of the Spartan II, and her gaze naturally drifted over his expression, reading a mixture of sadness, happiness, pride, and conviction on the pale skinned face of the man who looked younger than his forty-seven years of life and duty.

"Master Chief, Sir, to serve you and to have helped you in any way is just about every soldier's dream. We ain't gonna lose you too."

John held the shorter Spartan woman's hand a moment longer, maintaining eye contact and reading her conviction before looking up to see the same look mirrored in Bucks' eyes, and then further afield where a group of five fully armoured Spartans had ceased their tasks with five Sangheili to look on him being unhelmeted.

Being sighted by the Master Chief, the orange-red armoured Sangheili' split off from the group of IV's that they'd been in discussion with and marched up to the three unhelmeted Spartans. Buck and Tanaka both gave the aliens respectful nods and stepped aside.

"Spartan!" The Sangheili in the lead greeted with a resonating voice and a nod of his reptilian head, "To meet you here is an honour unlike that of even the Arbiter."

John withheld any expression despite the confusion that was swirling around him. As far as he knew, Thel Vadum had risen to being a prominent leader amongst the Sangheili within his role as the Arbiter.

"We called you and your kind Demon for so long because you are such dangerous warriors, now we are allies we can admit the honour of fighting with such a warrior." The Sangheili continued, cutting off and somewhat answering John's internal curiosity.

"Is the Arbiter here?" John asked the warrior addressing him.

"No," A second Sangheili warbled in his natural baritone, "He stayed with the brave few to allow as many of us to escape as possible."

"About nine hundred Sangheili escaped Sangheilios with us, with some Unggoy" Tanaka filled in with a nod to the first Sangheili.

"We are a united people now, because of you, Spartan. In your honour, we fight."

John stayed silent for a moment as he read the surprised expressions of the two Spartan IV's beside him and the Sangheili. Obviously, neither of them had expected the surviving former genocidal enemies to swear loyalty to their own former greatest enemy.

John opted for simply giving the alien a firm nod while holding eye contact, knowing that the warrior culture in him would respect the action.

"Roland?"

"Yes, Master Chief?" The AI instantly replied from the receiver within John's helmet, still held loosely from his left hand.

"Update on the team I came here with?" John asked as he naturally slipped back into his leadership role.

"Grunt and Garrus are in the simulation deck with Crimson. Mordin and Kasumi are with Doctor Halsey in Starboard Observation 23 and Legion is on the bridge electronically communicating with me."

"Directions to Starboard Observation 23?"

"I can show you, Sir?" Buck answered John in Roland's stead.

John answered with a simple nod, and Buck promptly stepped passed Tanaka and made for a bulkhead door on the right side of the sprawling Spartan deck. John gave Tanaka and the assembled Sangheili a nod in respectful goodbye before catching up to Buck in two long strides.

"The Infinity is a big ship, easy to get lost in if you don't know it well," Buck advised as they neared the door and several unsuited Spartans came through from the other side.

John gestured toward the door with a quizzical frown, "Starboard Access, Batteries, Flight Hanger, Observation Deck." He quoted from the electronic screen above the doorway.

Buck laughed with a small smirk, "Guess it took me a while to start paying attention to them."

John naturally adopted something between a frown, a small smile, and a smirk in confused response to the odd behaviour from the Spartan who was apparently one of the best of the best. The four unsuited Spartans who'd stepped through the door ahead of them halted and snapped crisp salutes.

John flicked a semi casual salute back as they passed and stepped through the doorway into a long stretching brightly lit metal hallway.

"Going to be good serving under you, Sir," Buck started again after they took a left. "I mean, the Captain is still in charge, but you're THE Master Chief. As much as the Captain is in charge of the Infinity, everyone is going to look to you to be in charge of what we do as the UNSC."

John knit his brow as a flash of his old militaristically disciplined self, occupied his mind and demanded him to answer that he was an NCO and had no such authority as to what Buck was suggesting. But again, he suppressed the thoughts that he now saw as a form of indoctrination and affirmed himself of his own path here.

"We'll make the UNSC into what it should be, Spartan."

Buck smiled at the answer that suited the Master Chief all too well and caught the firm but calm expression on his face as meaning he wanted to walk in silence. The former ODST took the hint without a qualm and continued on leading the way from barely a step ahead for the next ten minutes from one corridor to the next until they arrived before another identical doorway to the hundreds of others they'd passed.

Buck nodded to the door and then went rigid into a parade ground salute, "This is your stop, Sir. I'll leave you to it."

John reciprocated the action instantly, wearing a small smile as he noticed the looks of admiration he saw coming from the passing personnel. He dropped the salute and keyed the door control, stepping through the moment that it opened to see the familiar figure of Catherine Halsey seated on a low bench before a large window.

The two likewise familiar companions with her looked to him as he was momentarily silhouetted in the doorway before it closed, and he marched toward them, sparing a brief glance left and right to see the deck occupied by at least fifteen other small groups at benches of their own before large observation windows.

"Ahhh Master Chief!" Mordin exclaimed as he drew near. "Doctor Halsey has been explaining your history, personally, and as a species!"

"You had it rough, didn't you big guy?" Kasumi interrupted before Mordin could make the topic too coldly analytical.

The pointed eye contact and very slight rise and fall in his shoulders were all he answered with to the Asian woman by way of saying 'I guess so,' before his gaze settled on Halsey's fascinated expression. "I'm sure you have a great deal to say to me, John. A great deal to ask of me, maybe even accuse me of?"

John stepped closer so that he was a meter from the seated trio, holding his creators gaze and softening his expression as he cleared his mind of the swelling emotions within him to blame her for everything that had befallen him and his brothers and sisters.

"Doctor," He halted to draw emphasis to addressing her, "The past is done and gone, and I know that there were dozens or hundreds of reasons that you did what you did."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth hung slightly agape at John's borderline forgiveness, she peered more closely into his face, "You've changed, John."

"A lifetime of fighting for Humanity does that-"

"-No, John." Halsey rose from her seated position and stepped within his space, looking up into his face, "You have changed. You look – Different, somehow."

He nodded back, "The Librarian…"

"Librarian," Halsey whispered the name back in wonder.

John knew that the long dead Forerunner Life Shaper was the equivalent to an all knowing God in the eyes of Halsey. "She forced some evolution in me, she gave me memories from Ancient Humanity. I know about the Forerunners, about where we started, about the Flood and the Mantle."

"John…" Halsey trailed his name as a soft tone entered her voice, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "What I have done in my life with the Spartans was wrong on many levels, but I made you and the others capable of being what you were, and what you are. You have gone further than any Human before you, you are Humanities next step."

"Woah, Doc Hal," Kasumi broke hers and Mordin's respectful silence. "That's a lot of expectation to put on a guy!"

Halsey looked at the hooded woman with a sad smile, "If only you knew what – Who," She corrected herself, "-This man is. Your galaxy is going to change because of him."

"Your people's version of a Spectre?" Mordin asked, clasping his chin and shaking his head before Halsey could answer. "No, certainly not! Spectres advanced operatives, not a Luminary as you describe Master Chief to be."

"The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all…" John recited the Didacts words and sought the answer within himself. His heart doubled its pace in a moment of inner turmoil as he once more struck confusion and conflict over the nature of the Human-Covenant war and that the Mantle was the primary reason for it.

The Forerunners had stolen the Mantle from their creators and aeons later the best amongst them saw that it had been intended for Humanity, whom they had allowed the Didact to biologically violate. And as such Humanity had been marked as the inheritors of the responsibility, and one hundred thousand years later the Covenant had sworn them as enemies for it.

Humanity had been fighting for the Mantle without even knowing it.

John met Halsey's eyes again, "We're going to make a better Humanity here, a better UNSC. One that holds the Mantle how it was meant to be."

A small smile pulled on her lips, "I'm proud of you, John."

 **XX Infinity Bridge**

"Transition back to normal space in 3, 2, 1," Roland counted down, and on cue, the light in the bridge changed from the artificial lighting to being flooded with a cool blue glow from the nebula before them.

"Roland, scan that cloud, what did the Forerunners do here?" Lasky barked instantly. He glanced over his shoulder to Halsey who'd stooped over the tactics table and was tracking her finger over the data that was being fed to it.

"Captain…" Halsey's voice came out stunned and amazed all too similar to how she'd sounded upon the first contact with the reborn Cortana. The tone sent a chill down Lasky's spine and put him on edge.

"What is it, Doctor."

Lasky glanced to the Master Chief whose authority laden tone asked his maker. He loomed over her for just a moment, with Buck, Tanaka and the Salarian alien behind him, before taking a long stride toward the forward view screen.

"There's a structure in the cloud. It's enormous!" Halsey's eyes were wide and her voice breathless.

"Bit of an understatement, Doc," Roland agreed with her summary with his arms crossed and a nod.

Lasky paled and didn't take note that the Chief didn't show a shred of concern. His eyes widened in a stroke of fear as his mind jumped to conclusions, "A Halo…"

"No Captain," Roland instantly answered to divert the Captain's fear. "It seems to be a Shield World. Mass readings indicate one AU diameter."

"One AU! Incomprehensible!" Mordin declared with his mouth slightly agape. He looked pointedly to Halsey, "One AU in diameter? How? A planet half the size of a solar system!"

"Take us in." The familiar gravelly and commanding voice of the Master Chief spoke, ignoring the amazement Mordin was exuding, figuring the best way to educate the Salarian in the way of the Forerunners constructive capability was for him to see it first hand.

Roland glanced from the Master Chief's back to the Captain. Lasky gave a nod of confirmation, and the ships thrusters kicked the Infinity into motion.

"Distance to contact with Nebula one hundred kilometres – ninety – sixty – forty – ten – Contact." Lieutenant Jett counted down from his station unnecessarily as everyone on the bridge kept their gaze fixated on the glowing blue and red cloud of gas they were approaching.

The ship submerged itself within the cloud of gasses, and the light within the bridge softened. "Readings put the structure at one thousand klicks."

No one responded to Roland and simply opted for staring out the view screen at the visually impenetrable cloud that surrounded them. The still mass of red and blue streaks lulled them all into an eerie sense of calmness in light of the unexplored mega structure that they were approaching. A moment later the light shifted again as the Infinity nosed out of the gasses and was treated to the view of the vast, sprawling, expansive surface of metal shield world that extended beyond their field of vision.

Concentric overlapping rings made up its surface, broken in pattern only by the massive glowing blue-white energy portal which bore a concerning resemblance to Requiem's entrance, albeit it on a much larger scale.

"Roland."

The AI directed his projection on the tactics holo-table to the Master Chief's back, similarly to the rest of the inhabitants of the bridge as the Spartan II exerted his influence over them. His helmet turned slightly to the left to reveal a sliver of his visor, enough for the man within to confirm that the AI –and everyone else- was paying heed to him.

"Take us through the portal."

The AI paused for just a moment, recalling the recent history of Requiem, before nodding and sending through the control directives to the navigation computer. The ship reacted instantly as it changed its orientation to point up at the portal and accelerated.

"ETA five minutes at intercept speed," Roland advised with a nod to his usual commander.

"Good," Lasky reasserted himself with a nod to Lieutenant Jett. "Slow to docking speed five hundred meters out."

"Forerunners built on astronomical scale!" Mordin whispered excitedly as he shuffled up next to Halsey seeking her expert opinion and knowledge.

"Yes," She agreed. "If there are no slip space bubbles within this shield world then this will be the second largest one we've discovered."

"Let's not forget the Halos or the Ark, Doctor," Lasky added with a grim expression without his eyes leaving the growing portal ahead.

"Will there be Forerunners inside?" Mordin continued with excitement in his eyes.

The question brought a frown to the faces of everyone present at the possibility. That these Forerunners had completely escaped the Flood and the Halos by accident and had obviously committed their time here to build a new home that wouldn't interfere with this new version of the Milky Way they'd stumbled into.

"No," The Master Chief answered after the moment of silence stretched on. "They probably built this for us and then removed their suits."

The frown on Halsey's face grew deeper at the all too sure sounding answer, "How could you know that? Why would they do that?"

"There was division in the Forerunner ecumene, the Builders and Lifeworkers wanted to see the end of the old rates and assist Humanity. They made this knowing we'd arrive." John answered calmly, not shifting his posture from observing the portal ahead.

Halsey pursed her lips and let her mind flick back to an hour and a half earlier to when she'd briefly spoken of the Librarians forced evolution of John, and the knowledge it had instilled in him. "I do not see how they could know of us coming here?"

John looked over his shoulder again and withheld the desire to shrug. He truly didn't know, he was operating on an instinct that he'd learnt to trust unequivocally. And that the knowledge imprinted from the Librarian had permeated that trait. "The Domain might exist here too. The Precursors might have been here."

There was no imparted knowledge of that for John to fall back on, but flashes of memory about the Precursors and their Domain struck through his mind. Knowing that the Domain was the absolute pinnacle of their technology, he had trouble believing that the Forerunners were able to kill them and that they were more than capable of simply merging their essences into the Domain or even escaping to other realities. His eyes widened at the thought, and he turned his posture to more fully face Halsey.

His growing sense of ambition toward his vision of the Mantle guided his words, "The Precursors brought us here. They want us to take the Mantle in this Galaxy."

"Isn't that going a bit far, Chief?" Lasky asked his small grimace the only true answer to the Spartans impassioned words.

"Isn't this Mantle of Responsibility an Imperial power?" Mordin followed up instantly, his expression suddenly more guarded. "You spoke of how these Forerunners held it earlier."

John looked to the deck and shook his head, clenching his jaw as he did and looking inward to the emotions that weren't his own still surging from Forthencho's former presence within. "The Democracy of the UNSC is what the Mantle should be. We can make that."

Silence was the immediate answer, making John look to Roland. "Did the Ancilla record how many Reapers there are?"

Roland nodded and looked from Halsey to Lasky, "Around thirty thousand, various classes, at least one thousand of their Sovereign class ships."

John's golden gaze travelled from Halsey to Mordin to Lasky. "We can't beat all of them on our own, which means we need to fight with the other species here. How much will be left at the end of this? It's our duty to lead this galaxy."

More silence was the answer to the legendary Master Chiefs frighteningly grandiose and equally harshly honest words.

"Slowing to docking speed!" The Lieutenant announced, drawing all eyes back to the looming portal which was now all that was visible through the view screen.

"Take us in," Lasky commanded, all too happy to divert the conversation away from the Master Chief's prospects, mere years earlier the UNSC had been struggling for survival, and now they'd finally been rebuilding their empire, the idea of galactic stewardship exceeded his current perspective.

The ship held its speed and proceeded into the shimmering blue-white field of energy. The entirety of the Infinity passed through the portal within seconds and was soon bathed in warm yellow light as it appeared in blue skies far above a glistening silver city.

It was surrounded by bright green plains, reaching forests and rolling hills and mountains in the distance, all of it somewhat shrouded by picturesque white clouds lazily drifting beneath them

"Portal structure behind us is still active, looks like a permanent doorway in and out," Roland crossed the first possible concern off the list, bringing a holographic depiction of a tower structure from directly below them up with a stream of energy flowing from it into the sky.

"Contacts!" The Lieutenant quickly called from his station.

"Battle stations, now!" Lasky roared in panic as he quickly turned to the tactical table to see what was headed their way.

Halsey quickly held up her palm toward the Captain, and nodded through the view screen at what appeared to be a swarm of metal spiralling toward them, "They're Constructors, Captain."

Lasky let out a long breath to relieve the fight or flight instinct that had taken hold of him and shook his head to try and rid himself of the anxiety that had been ruling him since the beginning of the Cortana's rise back in their home galaxy. "Roland, what readings do we have?"

"Not much, Captain." The AI answered with a shrug, and a nod passed the Master Chief to the swarming mass of constructors out the window. "There are one hundred thousand of them in that formation out there; I'm tracking more than a dozen just like it in the immediate area."

"And that city down there?" Halsey asked, nodding to the rendering map on the holographic table.

"Plenty of life on the bio scanners, but nothing in that city; if there are Forerunners here, they aren't awake."

"Surface information?" Lasky followed on tactically with his eyes seeking the horizon that arched upwards in all directions until it disappeared into the cloudy blue skyline.

"Looks like the entire interior surface is habitable from what I can scan from here. I'm betting there would be a Cartographer down there though with a full read out of the place." Roland answered with a shrug.

"Take us down, we've found our new home," John advised with a resolute nod toward Lasky.

The Master Chief's assuredness relieved Lasky of a large portion of the anxiety that he was battling, and Lasky let a small smile take its place on his lips. "You heard him, Roland. Prep research deployment and send word to Prowler One to deploy and begin internal mapping. We're going to start making a home out of this place."

 **XX February 3** **rd** **– 2186 – Citadel Presidium**

"Well, Commander Palmer, you've certainly upset the balance," David Anderson nodded to the finally unarmoured but still towering sable haired women to his right as they navigated past a group of excitedly chattering Salarian's along the Presidium sidewalk on their way to the embassy bar.

Sarah narrowed her eyes at the wiry aliens in natural suspicion but kept her attention on her guide as they took a left through what appeared to be a kind of waiting area and proceeded up a flight of stairs. "I'm told that Spartans are good at that."

Anderson chuckled, "The Chief sure was a shock to the system too. Gotta say though, he helped Shepard more than my people did, and he saved a lot of lives by doing that."

Sarah looked down at the man and let the shrewdness evaporate from her attitude for the pride and inspiration that the Master Chief granted all Humanity to become visible in her eyes, "You've got no idea, Anderson."

"So it was a really big war then?"

Sarah clenched her jaw at recalling the all to recent war and nodded, "Yeah, hundreds of worlds lost, billions of lives, our empire reduced to barely a hundred colonies."

"And the Master Chief finished it? Saved everyone?" Anderson continued on as they took another left into the café styled bar. He nodded toward the balcony by way of direction and proceeded ahead of her through the tables and selected one at the corner of the balcony with six empty chairs around it.

He took one and Sarah naturally took the seat opposite it, glancing around from the three other occupied tables to the man at the bar watching a wall mounted news screen.

"Yeah, Chief and Cortana, his AI, helped break the Covenant apart, then formed an alliance with a former enemy. Then with that former enemy stopped a Forerunner super weapon from wiping out all life in the galaxy, ended the Covenant – sort of," She amended with a furrowing of her brow, knowing all too well all of the warring factions of the Covenant that remained. "Stopped the Flood and then eventually stopped a Forerunner that wanted to wipe out Humanity."

"The Flood?" Anderson asked, not being familiar with the name. "And I thought you said that all of the Forerunners died?"

Sarah retrieved a small data pad from her pocket and placed it on the table, then awkwardly activated the omni-tool on her wrist for inspection. "Roland, explain the Flood and the Forerunners to Anderson."

"Aye, aye, Spartan," The AI's voice answered from the device on the table top.

Sarah looked to Anderson and then back to the omni-tool uncertainly. He quickly understood the question and reached over the tabletop and touched a finger to the central display button in the middle and a small holographic screen expanded from it. "The bartender will see your diplomatic status on this."

She nodded in thanks and stood from her seat and made her way toward the barman whose attention was still solidly on the screen behind the bar. As she drew near she picked up the face of a scruffy haired man on the screen with the Citadel news logo stamped on the corner of the feed, "And in most recent Citadel news, new diplomatic ties have been made with a – Uhmm," he paused and looked down at something off screen. Sarah concluded that it must have been his prompter and he was rereading the point that explained her people's origins.

"-With a new Human race, this UNSC group of Humans are somewhat different from us and have extra-reality origins. This has been confirmed by the Citadel council," He fumbled with his words, obviously not sure of himself in this strange reading of the news. "These Humans appear very similar to us but are apparently of a generally larger structure as described by the Councils first contact meeting with them. The UNSC has now made a formal alliance with the Citadel species."

Sarah withheld a smirk as she entertained the thought that such a clumsy telling of the news would have earnt that man a social media joke-storm back on any UNSC world.

Sensing her presence, the bald bartender spun around with a welcoming smile to take her order. His eyes quickly tracked from her face, down her body covered in her under armour gel suit, to her long legs dressed in standard UNSC fatigues. He clearly put two and two together instantly and looked back up to her eyes, "Well you lot get around quickly! How about that! A human from a different reality in my bar!"

Sarah did her best to turn her natural cringe into a small smile and nodded, "Yes, we are seeking to integrate as best we can. May I order?"

"Sure, sweetie! What'ya want?"

Again, Sarah suppressed her cringe at the degrading way of having been referred to and focused on the idea of a diplomatic incident being a bad thing. "Do you make fresh coffee here? Espresso coffee?"

"Course' we do, what'll it be sweetie?"

Sarah imagined her inner-self laughing raucously at the man's temptation, imagined herself slapping him across the face with an open palm strike hard enough to throw him into the wall for the way that he was speaking to her. But she entertained the idea only within her mind, and externally maintained her composure. "A triple shot long black with a side of milk."

She held up her omni-tool ready to show that as a diplomatic VIP she was exempt from paying, and the man smiled and nodded and tapped the string of numbers that her omni-tool displayed into his own before turning away from her toward his espresso machine. "Coming right up!"

She turned away from him and made her way back to Anderson, letting out a long sigh at the exchange that had ground against every nerve in her being. "I could never imagine a civilian speaking to any service member that way back home." She declared as she reseated herself and shook her head.

Anderson gave another short laugh, "Yes, Master Chief expressed that the UNSC was a bit more –" He paused and looked up in thought, "-Professional -hard edge, in the day to day conduct."

Sarah shook her head at all of the small first-hand examples she'd seen since arriving that exhibited the surprising amount of difference between the native Humanity and her own. "So Roland filled you in?"

"Yep, Spartan."

"Basically," Anderson agreed with Roland's more casual answer. "So the Chief is more than just a hero."

Sarah nodded in agreement and thought. "It's hard to put into words. He saved our species and went through hell his whole life for that…" She pursed her lips and similarly to how Anderson had looked skyward in thought. "Captain Lasky – You'll like him when you meet – He's a great Captain. Everything a UNSC officer needs to be and more, but some things have changed in the Chief, I think. I think it will more than likely be the Chief who leads us as a people than the Captain."

"How will Lasky feel about that?" Anderson immediately asked, imagining an internal power conflict.

"Captain doesn't speak a whole lot about his past, but the Chief and his Spartans actually saved Lasky back at the beginning of the war when they were just cadets. I think Lasky will be okay with the Chief being in charge." The Spartan woman nodded thoughtfully.

"We'd all be okay-" She paused as the barman approached with her steaming coffee and placed it in front of her with a small shot of milk on the side.

"Fresh blend from Guatemala!"

Sarah nodded in thanks and the barman left. Anderson looked to the somewhat confused look on her face and nodded to the retreating worker, "This place is actually a coffee hotspot, believe it or not."

The quirk in Sarah's lips was her answer as she retrieved a sugar satchel from the middle of the table and emptied it into the almost black liquid and turned it with a teaspoon before adding the milk. "Actually have pretty good food and coffee on the Infinity. But it's not like this fresh stuff," She explained as she took a long breath of air from above the cup, absorbing the scent.

She raised it to her lips and sipped carefully, a look of relaxed delight taking hold of her in immediate response. "Sorry, I was saying about the Chief. We'd all be happy to defer to him if he wanted to step up into that role."

"Well, the Alliance are your friends in the long run. Some of the observations that Spartan Vale and Roland made about what's happening to the Alliance are uncomfortably true. We would like to see the status quo change with your people here."

Sarah nodded in appreciation at Anderson's concession and recalled Vale predicting he'd say as much earlier that morning when she'd removed herself from her suit aboard Strident One to spend the day being the diplomat.

"And the others?" She asked.

Anderson nodded over her head, "Looks like we'll be finding that out now."

Sarah pivoted slightly in her seat to see Valern approaching, his hood draped over his head as far as possible to hide his identity from any members of the public who might feel invited to encroach upon their meeting. He drew closer and nodded to them, "May I?"

Anderson gestured with a nod to the chair at the end of the table, and the Salarian drew it back and took a seat. He shook his head, looking from Sarah to Anderson, and shook it again as he released a frustrated sigh, "Your arrival has triggered some frightening things, Commander Palmer."

"How so?" Anderson asked in Sarah's stead as he picked up an uncomfortable vibe from Valern.

"I've just come from a meeting with Tevos and Sparatus-"

"- You have your council meetings without the Human member present?" Sarah asked with a frustrated look on her face.

Anderson held his palms up to her, "They have since I was sworn in. They don't adapt to new members quickly, or anything quickly for that matter."

Valern shrugged at Anderson's defence of the action and looked into the Alliance officers eyes, "Councillor Tevos revealed that the Asari Republic have been keeping some intact Prothean beacons hidden for their own study since their first space flight. Sparatus accused the Asari of being treasonous."

"And what did you do?" Anderson quickly asked before the Salarian could possibly steer the conversation in a different direction.

"I let it be known that the Salarian Union is aware of the Turian Hierarchy's black budget fleet spending, and that their military strength is exceeding the Councils regulations." Vallern immediately answered with a shake of his head.

"Some Alliance you all have…" Sarah muttered with a frown into her cup as she took another long sip.

Valern gave her a pointed look with his own frown before the expression fell from his face, and he simply shook his head, "The Council has been misguided from the beginning…"

Anderson scoffed and shook his head, "Don't get me wrong, I've got Turian friends, but the placement of Turians within the Citadel structure is ridiculous. How could you allow them to attack an unknown species on the first contact for violating laws that weren't even known?"

Valern nodded, "Yes, your First Contact War, was a wake-up call to the Salarian Union and the Asari Republic about the troubling nature of the Turian Hierarchy's aggressive nature. But I have been contacted by the Dalatrass Linron, she would very much like to make formal bonds with the UNSC free from Citadel interference."

"What are you saying?" Anderson spoke before Sarah could, with an incredulous expression, "That the Council will be disbanded?"

"It could possibly be," Vallern conceded. "Things have always been fairly close between the Salarian Union and the Asari Republic, and we have long thought that they might've been hiding Prothean technology. The Dalatrass was not very bothered by that, but things with the Turians have been causing friction for a long time, things have finally reached boiling point, and it's making the Citadel power obsolete."

Anderson's eyes went wide in surprise and amazement at the fact that such a powerful alliance was breaking so suddenly from several simple revelations. It exhibited the fragility of its founding to begin with to the military man turned politician.

"Why would this Dalatrass want to make an alliance with us so bad? She can't know anything about us," Sarah finally answered after a moment of observing Anderson's shock and Valern's resignation to the fact.

Valern openly smirked at Sarah and chuckled, "Just because we aren't as advanced as you, don't think us stupid."

Sarah frowned and glanced to Anderson who shrugged.

"Three of your warships arrived with no eezo readings. Heat signatures and the scans that were able to get a read on your vessels identified a different kind of shielding to what we use and high yield weaponry. Your vessels would be classified as Cruisers by our normal tonnage, but we heard you refer to them as Frigates," Valern began with a smirk.

Sarah held his gaze and nodded, "Go on?"

"You and your team in full armour exited and we can simply observe that your armour is much more advanced than ours. And that you are also much larger than all of us, considering your familiarity with Anderson, I would conclude that your physical size is not natural, and given the lack of eezo on your or your ship, I would assume you have a different form of FTL to us. Then diplomatically you set yourself apart whilst also offering your support; all of this is a symptom of a very technologically and societally advanced civilisation," Valern explained with shrewd eyes.

Sarah pursed her lips in thought and nodded slowly. "Captain Lasky will just want to have the most effective alliances possible. Organise with your Dalatrass for a meeting. The Captain wanted to make sure everyone would be ready to face these Reapers, so whatever has to be done."

Valern smiled, stood, and reached over the table, "As you Humans do," He said, offering a diplomatic handshake. Sarah took it first for a brief shake before Anderson received it next. "To the future," Valern concluded with a smile and a nod before turning away from them and making a beeline for the exit.

Anderson shook his head at the departing Salarian and looked to Sarah. "To think that such simple things could pull the Council apart. I'll organise these talks with Admiral Hackett."

"Noted," Sarah agreed and slid her data pad back toward herself.

"UNSC making more trouble," Roland voiced from the device.

Sarah imagined the smirk his avatar would be wearing and smirked, "Think Chief and Lasky found the Forerunner ship yet?"

"I'd say so, Chief has a pretty good track record of finding Forerunner stuff," Roland agreed. "Admiral Anderson," The AI decided to refer to the dark skinned man by his former Alliance Rank rather than his Council one, "What happens if the UNSC upsets the political balance of the Alliance too?"

Anderson pursed his lips in thought and shrugged slightly, "One way or another, the Reapers are going to change everything, we'll do what we have to do to survive as a species."


	10. Chapter 10

**Man, I was so ready to write this chapter immediately after the last one, and I got the first two sections of it done within a couple of days. But of course, work does what work does and gets in the way of personal life and hobbies. On the bright side of my disrupted attempt of writing, it helped me actually work out a storyboard. So I know a fairly accurate path for my story to take now.** **Hope everyone likes it!**

 **Please review your thoughts and enjoyment – please keep it constructive if you don't like something I've written. Readers and writers; we're all just folk after all.**

 **Review responses:**

 **TheDarkChronist:** One thing that I always feel weird about in games compared to novels (novels for those same games and its franchise) is some of the different depictions of enemies and power and such. Of course, often that's so that plots can progress and the game itself can be playable, but even still. That's in reference to both the scope of the threat that the Guardians represent and the strategies and psychology of the UNSC.  
So to start with; the Infinity was actually being built originally as a form of emergency colony/escape ship in the event of the UNSC collapsing so that Humanity could survive through the ship. That being the motive for its original canonical construction I felt that showed how ready to UNSC really was to abandon things if they really needed to, and that they wouldn't zealously fight to the last like the Covenant would. Of course, they did on multiple occasions try and try and continue to try to retake worlds and resources, but that was earlier in the war.  
The Infinity did also witness a Guardian in action on Sangheilios and saw their capabilities causing widespread damage in simply awakening, and were given after action reports from Osiris about the Meridian Guardian, and in all likelihood would have been given more after action intel from Earth. So Lasky would have had a fairly good understanding of their offensive capability. And considering the speed of which they disabled both Earth and Sangheilios, the homeworlds of the Orion arms two more prominent species, I think even after their 30 year war that anyone in leadership would be considering how to preserve their species.  
Of course, that's all creative supposition, and it my justification of moving my fic in this direction.  
The story also tells of the fact that the Forerunner builders who essentially stumbled through the portal were unable to use it to transit back, and that they were only able to hold it static to that location. The portals will be an ongoing plot point, but the implication was that they are beyond the Forerunners capability, which by extension also means Cortana. Of course, Lasky not know that took a gamble in his decision, which is something he's known for in taking calculated gambles.  
But again, that also does leave the implication that perhaps they can be understood and be reopened, in either direction… Like I said, an ongoing plot point.  
As to your first point about the Chief in the first half of the story: Partly that was due to my being creatively separated and struggling to get my writing back in character again, but it was also meant to partly depict his psychology shifting as his options changed, and he adapted to those things.

 **Trife:** What is said and what is done (no matter how convincingly it is said) in the ME universe are usually very different, which always bothered me. Like you said, the Council always felt like it was close to fracture, and the Turians were always verbalised and chronicalised as an almost radically military race, and yet in ME modern timeline are apparently all talk no action. So I felt like I made the talk from ME into action.  
I'm not sure to what extent I'll have the other species allowed into the Shield World yet, since to get there they'd need to be given a ride with a UNSC ship…. I shall mull this over.  
But the Forerunners will return in a sense, but not how you'd expect.  
As to the Geth, yes, I was going to do that in this chapter, but work has kept me from writing much and this turned out bigger than I expected so I decided to cut out for the next chapter.  
The more I write the more I'll depict the political and social turmoil of the Asari and their individual perspectives on their leaders.  
Stuff about the Turian's will progress in this chapter, and expand in a very un-ME fashion in the next chapter.  
Happy that you're enjoying it so much!

 **Emberframe:** I too was of that thought originally. But doing a little research suggested it was a lot, lot, lot, less! I actually increased the amount from what various people have counted out and estimated from.

 **Artyom-Dreizehn:** Someone pointed out to me that an AI revolution had been hinted at in Halo ever since H2, and going back, it certainly did follow on from that. I'll admit any day that I don't like the AI gone evil trope, but everything else around that has been done very well, so I withhold hope that it's not actually what it seems and it evolves into something much more.

 **Ferox Pretorius:** Combat returns in this chapter! But there shan't be any Sangheili on Shepard's or Chief's teams, but there will be a Sangheili team announced in this chapter which will work with Shepard in the next chapter. I hope I've continued to have good characterization in this and that you keep on enjoying. : )

 **Doctor Dandy:** Even though your review was to Chapter 2, as the last review added I'll reply here in the off chance you're following: ["Solitude, I need all of your recorded data?" Chief asked slowly as he resolved on his path forward.] The question is described as a question, and the manner in which he spoke it was described in a manner that would be contrary to a statement or order, as such it is correct being punctuated with a question mark. Just about any line that would typically be depicted as a statement could be structured as a question with proper –even simple- description, and the same the other way around.

 **Chapter Ten  
.:: Fractures, Battlelines  & Alliance ::.**

 **February 18/2186 - Systems Alliance Earth Date**

 **February 18/2559 – UNSC Synchronised Adoptive Date For Erda Colony**

 **UNSC Controlled Forerunner Shield World – Erda, Charum Nebula**

John could count on one hand the amount of times that he'd thought about a sensation feeling pleasant or nice in his entire lifetime, and this was one of them. He was free from his armour and even the gel layer, wearing standard UNSC fatigue pants and a grey t-shirt with the UNSC's logo emboldened on the chest.

The clothing was as always, a tight fit. The last time he'd worn clothing that had been an ideal fit had been on Reach before any of the Spartan II's had even touched or known about their armour when everything they touched or wore was made to purpose for each of them.

But John was happy to trade the slight displeasure of the pants that hugged his thighs a little too tightly and the t-shirt that was struggling with his chest and biceps for the pleasant feeling of the warm air breezing over his skin and the sunlight dappling through the netting above warming his back. He stood stone still beneath the net canopy looking over the picture perfect surreally green grassy plain to the outer edges of the small Forerunner city as teams of marines, Spartans, and civilian scientists marched in and out of it carrying all manner of equipment.

They were all acting directly under his orders now; after the Infinity had arrived within the shield world and Lasky had ordered them down, John had been on the first pelican to the ground. John was likewise the first man on the ground, Halsey, Buck and Tanaka right behind him with the Infinity's entire complement of pelicans and deployment bays being launched to establish a ground side presence.

Halsey had looked to John and insisted he be the one to name the world that would serve as the home for the UNSC branch of Humanity.

His memories had flared and the most fitting choice came to mind and visions of Forthencho's life and feelings showed him the world that Earth once was, so he'd chosen the earliest ancient Humanity' name for the world which had harboured and nurtured them, "Erda."

Over the next twenty days, they had set up a base of operations on the grassy plain bordering the small Forerunner city; designated Alpha Base. A typical UNSC looking series of structures had quickly been erected and were continuing to expand outward to make troop housing more comfortable and research capabilities greater.

After the shield worlds' central cartographer and control room had been found in the dead centre of the city every day had been another day of a methodical military and scientific exploration of the city, building by building, room by room; cataloguing, documenting, understanding and planning.

John had even discovered that the swarms of constructors that flew in massive clouds like insects could be controlled from the Forerunner control room, and then used to dismantle any of the structures and build brand new designs with the Forerunner alloys.

Several days after that, Stridents' One, Two, and Three had arrived, and a full briefing about the unexpected turn of events had been laid out. But rather than instantly jump into action as their instincts called for them to do, John, Lasky, Halsey and Palmer conferred and agreed that establishing a base of operations that would function both militaristically and societally was the most important task to undertake with any immediacy.

In that happening, John had found himself with very little to do. He could explore, like any number of thousands of personnel who were, but he couldn't be more useful that way than anyone else. There were no enemies to fight here, and he wasn't needed to be a leader, neither was anyone in the line of command; as all of the Infinity's crew were both very well trained in their tasks and disciplines and were equally diligent.

The culmination, for John, had been Halsey talking him into removing his armour a couple of days later for her to run maintenance and upgrade systems where she could.

"You better stay in the shade, might melt otherwise!"

The awkward joke which disrupted John's thoughts could only have come from the only other man present who was likewise de-suited and was in the process of somewhat uncomfortably laughing at his own joke from his lounging position in the lush grass.

"Get it? 'Coz you're so white?" Buck even more uncomfortably tried to explain with his smile very quickly turning into a cringe. "-Like snow…?"

"If Edward Buck could make Flipyap laugh then we'd be seeing a miracle in action, let alone the Chief," Vale snorted in mirth from her seated position in a fold-out canvas chair beside a deployable holographic table.

Unfortunately for Vale's accurate description of Buck's eternally poor sense of humour, the Unggoy in question was within hearing range. "Red lady call my name!" The high pitched squeaky voice of the hard-working -if simple-minded- creature shrieked as he halted his task digging up a square patch of earth a dozen meters back toward the primary encampment of deployed bases and came bounding toward them.

"Dammit, Vale!" Sarah groaned as she rolled forward from her casual and relaxed lounging position on her own canvas chair and let her forehead fall into her hands in frustration of the interruption to their rare chance to sit back and relax.

"Red lady! Did you say joke for Flipyap?" The Unggoy skidded to a halt at the very edge of the sheltered area with his bottom jaw lolling up and down in exertion from running from his task, and his strange facial features managing to show excitement at being spoken to by the group of highly ranked Spartans.

"Flipyap!" Vale ground out his name, hating the small part of her mind that felt mirth at pronouncing the typically silly sounding Unggoy title, "Stop calling me Red Lady! What is my name?"

The lolling excitement on the diminutive creatures face started to wash away as he realised he'd not been intentionally called, and he scuffed his clawed feet onto the grass and looked down dejectedly, "Sword Team Spartan Olympia Vale," He answered with all of his former enthusiasm washed away.

Vale sighed in exasperation and again found herself hating the small part of her that thought the Unggoy's simplistic behaviour and characteristics as an individual cute. "Thank you, Flipyap. Now I would strongly advise you get back to taking soil samples otherwise Commander Mahkee will be very displeased."

Flipyap's head shot up and his eyes went wide in fear, and he instantly spun on his feet and stampeded back to the job he'd abandoned, retrieved his pick, and started hacking away at the ground with gusto.

"Since everyone's awake again."

Buck barked in laughter and wiped mirthful tears from his eyes as John coyly declared his desire to talk shop.

Both of the Spartan women didn't share in Buck's mirth and shot him a glare each, before wiping the displeased expressions from their faces and assuming calm all business ones as they looked to the man who had taken the liberty of assigning them to him as Sword Team.

"I am also awake, Master Chief – Commander," Legion reminded every one of his presence as he stood back to his full height from his folded away posture he'd taken to assuming when he wasn't directly spoken to by the organics.

John gave the Geth a nod and wiped some of the accumulated dust off the surface of the holo-table with his forearm. The display lit up, and he selected the mapping function icon, quickly followed by selecting a galactic view. A galaxy map the size of a large saucer rose from the table and regions lit up in different colours.

John's hand delved into it, and he rotated the orientation to his liking before stopping and circling one area followed by another. The simple AI installed in the table lit up the two suggested areas, "So it looks like the Citadel Council is about to break down and be disbanded, and you were saying that there's a lot of tension between the Asari and the Turians?" John asked, looking up and meeting Vale's eyes.

She quickly nodded, but Legion answered before she could, "We have also picked up on some long-range transmissions that suggest Turian forces are raiding ships in Citadel space for supplies and weaponry."

"So there's war boiling on that border-" John paused and looked into Palmer's eyes next.

The former Spartan Commander, whose role had been given to Holly Tanaka under the suggestion of the Chief, pushed down the unwanted and unprofessional pale pink shading on her cheeks that had been making a habit of creeping onto her features the more she got to know the Master Chief as an individual.

"Sarah, what do you think can be done to hold that war off until the Reapers arrive?"

John, having said her name made the fine blush harder to push down, she and Vale were still getting used to him using their first names on his own insistence, and she knew that it was likely because of his being raised with Spartans who only had first names. Funnily for Edward Buck, when John had first called him Edward and the former ODST had made a wry joke about it, John almost instantly switched back to calling him Buck and said it was more efficient to pronounce.

Sarah wanted to laugh at the semi-recent memory, and she and Vale had both spared a short laugh about how much Edward –or Ed- didn't suit him and how much Buck did.

"From the kind of culture that I could pick up on from their Councillor, the Turians like to be prepared to the fullest before starting anything. I think if we somehow manage to push that preparation along a bit longer, then they'll hold off picking a fight," Sarah finally answered, having conquered the minor blush which could have passed for feeling hot in reaction to the exceedingly comfortable air temp.

John nodded and spun the map again, highlighting a new section before looking up to Legion, "And you and Tali both said that there's the possibility of peace for your people?"

"Yes, Master Chief – Commander, Geth have always been open to peace with the Creators. Your AI, Roland, also said that he can help the Geth become more individual amongst units. The consensus we've built says that such an outcome would help Creators and all organics trust Geth more," Legion, as usual, answered descriptively and clearly.

John let a small smile tweak his lips at the machine beings clarity and nodded. He retrieved a datapad from his right hip pocket and typed in Legion's advisement, then once more turning the galaxy map, "And the Batarians?"

He looked around the small group, and they all shrugged, making John realise that he was likely the only non-native Human to have met a Batarian.

"From things I heard about them on the Citadel-" Olympia began with pursed lips in thought.

John met her eyes, "Olympia?" He asked, saying her name, like he was with Sarah, more to help himself familiarise with them, as to them with him.

"Well they aren't well liked by any of the races," Olympia started with a small frown. "Not one little bit really. If something bad were to happen to them and the galaxy knew about it, I think the only reason any other species would 'condemn' it," She expressed with her fingers held up in quotation, "Would be because of political correctness."

"And the Terminus Systems?" John asked toward Legion this time.

"Master Chief – Commander, you experienced Omega," Legion started with his neck tilting to the right in an intentional expression of not being sure how to continue on the open-ended question. Seeing that the commanding figure wasn't going to refine the question, Legion started again, "The Terminus systems are run by a collection of criminal organisations which all serve Aria T'loak if she demands it. Terminus criminals often raid the Attican Traverse too."

John reached up to his chin with his right hand and pulled at the skin which had started towards becoming the same tone as the other Spartans in the daily light of the artificial sun which illuminated the landscape. He nodded at the information, looking from Legion to Sarah, "So no one will notice –or care- if any criminals' ships go missing?"

Sarah's brow furrowed in curiosity and looked to Olympia to see a similar expression, whereas Buck wore more of a grimace. "That'd be a good idea, Chief," He conceded to the implied strategy, despite clearly not liking it.

"What'd be a good idea? Smashing Cerberus?" Grunts boisterously loud enthusiasm called from beyond the patch of earth Flipyap was still throwing himself into with surprising dexterity.

The Spartans all shifted their posture to regard the approaching Grunt and Garrus, John was always surprised by the Krogans hearing given the strange structure of his head and ear holes. As the two approached John took a few moments to let his eyes settle on the Turian, mentally recalling everything he knew about the upstanding former Normandy squad mate and how he might react to the UNSC's gearing toward the Turians.

"Trading weapons and ships to the Turian Hierarchy to keep them from attacking the Asari right away," John bluntly answered as the two reached the edge of the tent.

"Heh heh heh, not your weapons, I bet," Grunt laughed deep in his chest and winked at John, who even without his armour still stood a head taller than the Krogan.

Garrus, on the other hand, grimaced at the man he'd elected to follow so openly raise the topic of the Turian Hierarchy's aggression. "Chief," He looked at the ground before looking back up into John's face as he tried to hide the vulnerable edge in his eyes. "The UNSC won't attack the Hierarchy, will they?"

John could perfectly understand the alien man's vulnerability -he was knowledgeable in Garrus's past, thanks to Shepard and the Turian's own openness toward explaining his motivations. Garrus had spent the majority of his life trying to not be a typical Turian, and more often than not looked down on the decisions made by his people, but the love for his own kind had never been threatened by alliances turning into battlefronts and friends into enemies.

"No, we're trying to think of strategies to prevent there being a war," John answered with a firm nod. It wasn't the full truth, but it was close enough as far as he was concerned.

John, Lasky, and Halsey had conferred over the UNSC's position within this new galactic structure, and their primary concern was to protect the UNSC and their own future. As the small council that the three had become for their people, they had decided that whilst a purely diplomatic solution to the Turian Hierarchy was possible, that it would demand more time and resources than they were willing to expend, considering the imminent arrival of the Reaper Armada.

John was the first to express the idea of trading under the table with them to help them build up their military even further which had resulted in a scowl from the Captain and an uncomfortable frown from Halsey. He couldn't blame either reaction, Thomas Lasky was a good man who never gelled with the ONI orders that had often been filtered through his ship, and Halsey had made effort after effort to leave the morally grey choices from her past in her past.

And John was of the same mind as each of them, but as he was starting to see the UNSC as his people, he was starting to look to strategies beyond his standard see the enemy and neutralise approach.

His focus came back to Garrus who only looked slightly relieved. Their eyes met, and Garrus smiled slightly, "I knew I could trust you being in charge, Chief. Anyone else would want to attack the Hierarchy for what we've been hearing."

"You've fought with Shepard for a long time, Garrus. We know who the real enemies are," John nodded resolutely in stark contrast to the reality of the deteriorating state of galactic affairs.

Garrus nodded again, and John and the rest of the Spartans could tell it was more to affirm himself than them, "Actually, Chief, I was hoping to find out if any of your ships would be leaving soon? I wanted to get back to the Citadel and help C-Sec with any possible trouble."

"Are you wanting to get back to Palavan?" Sarah asked bluntly, her eyes somewhat narrowed and a shrewd expression on her face.

John had quickly been learning, especially in the presence of Sangheili, that Sarah wasn't trusting of aliens. He couldn't exactly blame her, and he'd seen Lasky cringe at her borderline hostility toward their allied Sangheili crew but refrain from reprimanding her.

But she had very quickly adjusted to the presence of Mordin, Legion, and the Unggoy; all of which expressed open willingness to communicate and show a peaceful front, as opposed to the stronger more aggressively natured species.

"I would like to speak with my father, yes," Garrus agreed with a nod, his confidence returning and covering the vulnerability in his eyes, "But I know which side is in the right. And I know who the real enemies are," He finished with a nod to John.

"I wanna get back to Tuchunka as well," Grunt rumbled in support for Garrus's track. "Urdnot Wrex would probably like a word with you too."

John knew the name; he'd read up about the former Normandy crew member turned clan head, and the state of Tuchunka, along with their history. He couldn't help but culturally compare the position of Wrex as Tuchunka's dominant clan had to Thel's role as the Arbiter for the Sangheili.

"Captain Lasky will be heading to Surkesh with the Infinity at eighteen hundred hours," John answered before looking to his small team, and Legion who'd only expressed loyalty to him over that of the crew he was formerly a part of. "And I'll be taking Strident One to Earth at nineteen hundred hours."

The group stopped, and all looked skyward as several swarms of Constructors zipped by directly overhead and combined into an even larger group before spiralling up like a backwards tornado toward the Infinity. John frowned at the unusual behaviour and quickly reached for the holotable controls, keying the communications unit, "Roland, four swarms of Constructors just-"

"-Nothing to worry 'bout Chief," The AI's yellow avatar sprung up onto the table top next to the still active Milky Way map. He spread his arms and smiled smugly, "Halsey's in the control room, she just got me full access to everything in here. Guess who the Constructors play for now?"

The group went silent at the surprising step forward before a small smile claimed John's face and he nodded to the AI in approval, "Can they build anything you upload?"

Roland simply nodded with his virtual smirk turning into a grin. It was answer enough for John to decide to make at least a semblance of a move to keep that information sensitive from Garrus and Grunt. While he looked at them and saw allies, he also saw representatives of a race who might one day contest the UNSC.

"You can ride with us to Earth and make your way from there. I'm going to make sure Shepard is out of lockdown to begin mobilisation for the Reapers."

"Thank you, Chief," Garrus straightened his posture and nodded more formerly in a show of authoritative respect.

Grunts broad lips split over his large teeth, "Yeah, thanks. Gonna have good friends in the Krogan."

The broad-shouldered towering Spartan gave them a curt nod and looked back to the former Spartan Commander, "Sarah, can you get the terraforming modules recovered from Reach loaded onto Strident One?"

"Of course, Chief," Sarah answered in her all business tone. She reached skyward in a stretch, straightened her muscle shirt, and marched toward Alpha Base after Garrus and Grunt, who were making their way at a much more casual pace.

"My job, Chief?" Buck asked, likewise watching Sarah go and withholding the chuckle that he clearly wanted to release as Flipyap noticed Sarah passing by and promptly halting his work to chase after her. "Gotta say, for how dumb the little bastards can be they sure work hard and get a lot done."

John and Olympia both smirked before the taller of the two tore his eyes away from the departing scene of Sarah doing her best to ignore the Unggoy that was reaching for her in a vain attempt to be given the attention it desired for its excuses not to work.

"Buck, make sure Strident One is fully loaded, I want each Shiva tube to be loaded too."

Buck threw a lazy salute and jogged off a slightly different direction to Sarah to avoid the dejected Unggoy that was just now beginning to return to his menial job. John turned his gaze to the final remaining Spartan besides himself, "Olympia, I want you to go find Mahkee for me."

"Got it, Chief, where do I send her when I find her?"

"I'll be in the control room," John looked toward the small Forerunner city, more like a highly advanced township than a full-fledged sprawling city of the proportions that he was accustomed to seeing.

"Aye, aye," Olympia casually saluted and followed in Buck's tracks, seeing that he'd disappeared somewhere toward Alpha Base without interruption from Flipyap.

"Follow me, Legion," John ordered as he stepped from under the shady cover of the awning and made a casual pace toward where he knew Halsey to be.

 **X**

John wasn't surprised by any of the information that Halsey greeted him with about the functionality of the Shield World. He'd experienced the typical functions of a number of Forerunner installations a multitude of times, and his augmented memory partly filled with Forthencho's accumulated knowledge and partly filled with information that the Librarian had seen it fit to gift him with, he had predicted everything that Halsey was confirming.

"Their knowledge of Slip Space was astounding!" Halsey cooed in amazement once more as she followed after his shadow out of the typical Forerunner design control room and into the dimming early evening light, unable to avert her eyes from her datapad feeding her readings on all of the information within the Forerunner system that her touch and genetic designation had unlocked.

John knew exactly how astounding Forerunner achievement was, both on paper and in the material world, but it was the sight of the dimming landscape that spoke to a more primal part of him and made him peer up at the artificial star to see the crescent shadow which simulated sunset slowly sliding across it.

Sensing him having stopped at the cathedral entranceway of the control room, Halsey stepped up next to him and matched his posture and gaze. "Electromagnetically controlled plasma fluctuations within the core of the sun," She explained as the light grew dimmer yet again around them without the air growing colder; something they could thank Roland for.

Their first three nights within the Shield World had been dangerously cold until Roland had directed John in how to adjust the climate patterns from the control room. The local native animals all seemed to be just as pleased by the change as the new Human inhabitants as the evening air began to fill up with the musical calls of nocturnal birds and baritone warbles of the animals out on their nightly hunt for smaller prey.

"Master Chief?"

The throaty calling of his rank carried John's eyes from the sky and the lights of the Infinity and her Stridents' now visible just out beyond the cities edge situated above Alpha Base to the approaching female Sangheili. "Mahkee," He greeted and stepped forward with an outreached hand.

Her own hand bypassed his and grasped his forearm, he replicated the action and squeezed for a moment until she released and stepped back, giving a respectful nod to Halsey as she did. "Spartan Vale said that you asked of me?"

"Yes," He agreed and clenched his jaw to force down his unease at the thought that he was about to bring to fruition. "You… Your people said that they would follow my orders-"

"-Arbiter spoke highly of you, the Demon warrior who helped free us from the Prophets. We've pledged our strength to you, Master Chief."

John pursed his lips for a moment before meeting the Sangheili woman's emerald eyes, "I have a mission for you and a crew on a Lich."

 **February 19 – Sur'kesh.  
**

"Captain Lasky, quite a ship you've got there!"

Lasky gave a professional smile to the vidcom depiction of Admiral Steven Hacket. The Alliance Admirals own dreadnought was located a mere five kilometres away in high orbit of the Salarian homeworld and had been treated to seeing the UNSC's flagship emerging from slip space.

"Indeed she is, Admiral," Lasky agreed, his smile becoming something of a cringe as his mouth moved faster than his brain, "So is yours."

To Hackett's credit, he simply chuckled with a wry grin, "It's okay Captain, you don't need to try and play nice. I've been forwarded intel on your three Frigates, no need to throw around niceties because you've got bigger ships than ours."

Lasky let a half smile claim his features, "Of course, Admiral Hackett. Will you be attending ground side? Or should I expect a diplomatic envoy?"

"Yes, I'll be seeing you ground side, I just wanted to introduce myself first." Hackett answered with a thin-lipped smile, "The Asari and Salarian representatives are waiting for us."

Lasky took the hint and passed a small wave to the officer manning the communications station. The feed cut and Lasky made a beeline out of the deck, the patiently waiting Mordin and Tanaka falling into step behind him as he followed the typical route to the command hanger.

Before long the three reached the small three pelican hanger and boarded the closest one. Lasky took the starboard seat closest to the cockpit, and Mordin positioned himself across from the UNSC Captain, Tanaka bypassing both of them and taking the cockpit for herself.

A moment later her voice sounded from the hangers speakers, "Hold tight, gonna make a quick descent."

Lasky quickly reached for the synthetic belt above his right shoulder and dragged it down across his body until it met the clasp at his left hip. Mordin parroted the action and smiled in what Lasky thought must have been a pleasant expression.

The troop bay jolted and the pair felt inertia tug at them as they lifted off and shot from the hanger.

"Very exciting times!" Mordin grinned across at Lasky.

Lasky quickly adopted something between a quizzical and a grave expression to the Salarian with his brow furrowed in curiosity.

Quickly sensing the unease from Lasky from the contradictory way of viewing the current happenings, Mordin forced his grin down into a blank professional expression, "Dire too, of course!"

Lasky scoffed quietly to himself and nodded to Mordin, "I know the feeling."

Mordin nodded enthusiastically with his smile returning as the Pelican bucked, "Atmosphere." Tanaka's voice came in over the speakers again.

Lasky looked from the cockpit door back to Mordin, seeing his eyes following the contours of the troop bay in curious inspection, "You're not worried about my people being more advanced than yours?"

"Worried?" Mordin's eyes snapped onto Lasky's at the line of questioning. "Not at all! Very exciting and interesting! Could not have dreamed that meeting the Master Chief aboard the Normandy would lead to this…" He trailed in thought with his eyes drifted to the ceiling, "…This – Change of the galaxy from the influence of one man, this change of power from his people simply being here; new information and knowledge to be learnt!"

"Hmmm," Lasky hummed to himself in thought, focusing his mind on all of the information feed to him from the Master Chief, Sarah and Vale about their encounters with Salarians and their culture.

"-Touching down," Tanaka spoke again, cutting off Lasky's lead into his next line of curiosity as the ship jolted slightly and the troop bay opened to four armed Salarians suited from head to toe in white armour.

Lasky quickly assessed the scenery behind them in the event of needing to make a fast getaway; both he and Mordin stood from the seats, and Tanaka emerged from the cockpit behind them as they strode down the ramp onto the white metal landing pad.

Stepping from the confines of the ship granted the three the view of the landing pad -which stretched around them- and the other group of four armed Salarians to their right greeting Admiral Hackett with two Alliance soldiers flanking him emerging from a Kodiak shuttle. Catching his eye, Hackett made a small wave to Lasky and strode his way, stepping around the rear landing leg of the Pelican and stretching out a hand in greeting.

Lasky shook it firmly, his lips turning up in a professional smile. "Good to meet you face to face, Admiral."

"Got no idea how good, Captain Lasky-"

"-I assume that means you've looked over the data we supplied regarding the Reapers?" Lasky interrupted.

Hackett's expression turned slightly ashen at the words, "That's part of it, quite a few people in the Alliance have believed Shepard about the Reapers for a long time, we've been doing our best to prepare." He paused and glanced to the fully armoured Tanaka. "But what you represent is incredible. Your people can be an example for everything the Alliance can become."

"Sir's," One of the Salarians interrupted, drawing the eyes of the group onto him. "The Dalatrass has requested that the meeting take place as soon as possible, this way, please."

Lasky half smiled at the order that was diplomatically structured to sound like a request as the eight Salarians assembled around his' and Hackett's group and began moving. Naturally, they all started to move along with the group across the walkway toward the dome structured it was attached to.

He had gone over Sarah's and Vale's helmet cam footage from their expedition to the Citadel and discussion with the Council, and he couldn't have approved more of how Sarah had conducted herself and represented the UNSC to them. He looked to the back of the lead Salarian and felt a small spike of defiance, wanting in some way to prevent the proceedings happening on their terms for the sheer point of this alliance they were here to forge being built of mutual agreement.

Lasky quickly suppressed any feeling of rebellion and defiance and caught Hackett assessing him. The aged Admiral pressed his lips together in a wry smile, "If you don't mind my asking, Captain?"

Lasky met Hackett's eyes and gave a small nod to continue before looking ahead again as they left the walkway and passed into a foyer where more armed Salarians were assembled.

"You appear to be young for a Captain of such a massive ship?"

The UNSC Captain didn't break his gaze from the groups of armed Salarians as they passed through into the amphitheatre room beyond where he immediately saw the group of Salarians dressed in robes rather than armour and two regularly clothed Asari ahead of their own security.

"That'll have to be a story for another time, Admiral. The UNSC was short of good officers," Lasky answered just as the other species representatives made eye contact with him. "Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity," He announced himself to the four aliens who were clearly the diplomats.

Hackett gave Lasky a thin-lipped smile before likewise announcing himself, "Admiral Steven Hackett, Systems Alliance."

"Dalatrass Linron, Salarian Union," The Salarian in her hood spoke in what was clearly the Salarian version of a feminine voice.

"Matriarch Lidanya, Captain of the Destiny Ascension and Spokesperson of the Asari Republic," A typically beautiful and female Asari in a form-fitting black bodysuit announced, nodding to the blue woman to her left in a similar suit, "And former Councillor Tevos."

"Former? You Asari have suddenly become very hasty in rushing into things!" The Dalatrass claimed loudly at the two Asari.

"-Here we go…"

Lasky glanced to Hackett as he mumbled under his breath and from everything he'd been told by the Master Chief and Palmer, the diplomatic structure between species lacked any real concrete structure. He took a small symbolic step forward and raised his palms.

"Representatives, my people are keen to be able to begin rebuilding their lives, but to do what we must defeat the common enemy, and swiftly deal with the galaxy's issues at hand. Can we please do as much without cultural insults or conflict?"

"Captain Lasky is right," Lidanya quickly agreed and met the Dalatrass's eyes. "The reports are absolutely true; Turian vessels have been raiding any non-Turian civilian vessel in Council Space, stealing weaponry, resources, and even the ship itself in some cases! The few times our ships intercepted one of these raids the Turian's fired their flak rounds in warning shots, to hell with them! We have-"

Tevos placed a calming hand on Lidanya's shoulder, "We understand the issue, Matriarch Lidanya, but we mustn't make matters worse." Her eyes found Hackett's then Linron's, "But it is safe to assume that the days of the Citadel Council are over. Even Valern is here, and I assume that Anderson has likewise been recalled to Earth?"

"He has," Hackett agreed, "And Shepard's detention has been lifted in light of the evidence about the Reapers, we now consider his actions to be a tragic but necessary collateral damage."

"We are also of that agreement," The identified Valern spoke up from behind Linron.

"Who cares about a small colony of those savages anyway," Linron bitterly jabbed. "All those filthy Batarians have brought to the galaxy is terrorists and criminals."

"Dalatrass," Lidanya called in a soft tone, catching the Salarians eyes. "We must stay on task on this matter; the Reapers, and how to handle the situation with Council Space."

"Anderson informed me that just before he left that there was a general call for Turian's to depart the Citadel and return to Palevan and that a lot did," Hackett answered the point grimly.

"So it's clear that the Hierarchy also assumes that the Council is about to fall apart," Linron ground while shaking her hooded head.

"What's worse, they are calling for their people to return to their homeworld. That's as bad as stating an expectation of war," Lidanya added with a grim expression and downcast eyes. "Who'd have thought it would come to this?"

Lasky glanced from the Asari to the Salarians then to Hackett and frowned at the lack of input. He shook his head at the lack of strong leadership and grimaced for a moment before taking another small step forward, placing himself in the middle of them all. "Spartan Palmer told me that she gave your Councillors a brief description of the UNSC's history with the Covenant?"

He looked at each of them and caught the affirmative in their faces before continuing, "I mean no disrespect, but this issue must be dealt with swiftly and without casualties in the face of the threat of the Reapers, who we consider a Covenant level threat. The Master Chief-"

"-Your ultimate Warrior?" Linron grimaced, only for Valern to gently nudge her.

"Dalatrass, the context of my description about the Master Chief was lacking. He is an upstanding individual, I spoke too much of what seemed to be his win at any cost mentality," Valern explained with a frown.

Lasky gave both of them a blank expression, catching the look the two Salarians halted and gave a slight nod each for him to go on. "The Master Chief has a plan for keeping the peace with the Turian Hierarchy. It's not a perfect solution, but it will stop any fighting until the Reapers arrive, so you don't need to waste any forces against them."

"And what is your ultimate warrior's plan, Captain?" Linron asked with a barely suppressed sneer.

Lasky wasn't surprised by the Salarian leader's reaction, given what he knew of them as a culture and how the UNSC and the Master Chief had imposed themselves as superior in many fields almost instantly upon their arrival.

"Dalatrass Linron," Tevos called the attention to herself, "Are some things not better left unsaid?"

Linron grit her teeth and looked to Valern's head bobbing in agreement to the expectant face of the UNSC Captain who'd placed himself between them all.

"Many things which our people have done, have been done secretly, Dalatrass," Mordin called from next to Hackett with a smirk, "And thanks to Councilor Tevos, we all know the secrets that the Asari kept, is it not the time to reveal our secrets? Or for us to work together?"

Lasky nodded and spoke before Linron could voice her displeasure about being affronted by one of her own, "Dalatrass, I propose an interspecies alliance between all of us here, and the Krogan too if they agree." He halted and read the blank faces around him, "Absolute military cooperation between everyone."

"You propose a lot, Captain Lasky," Linron spoke up after a minute of silence.

"No, Dalatrass, he proposes that we survive." Lidanya frowned at the Salarian, "The Asari Republic agrees to any terms proposed. Our borders are open to UNSC, Alliance, and Salarian vessels, and we are ready to commit absolute military and economic cooperation."

"Dalatrass, we are being given an opportunity to survive here. Your pride will kill us all if you say no," Mordin grimaced as he spoke toward Linron from beside Hackett.

Linron narrowed her eyes at the former STG member and clenched her jaw, "Fine then, the Salarian Union commits to this alliance too, so what will we do about the Turians?"

Lasky sighed in relief at how relatively painless getting the two alien races to agree had been and let a relieved smile take its place on his lips. "And the UNSC would like schematics for any of your dreadnought class vessels, we believe we can replicate them and help bolster your fleets."

"We can supply them to you right now," Lidanya nodded, "If you can help us survive this enemy, then as you humans say, all of our cards are on the table."

"Likewise, the Alliance is ready to fortify our space as far as is necessary," Hackett stated firmly before looking to Linron along with the Asari and the two UNSC elements.

"While I appreciate-" Valern nudged Linron in the side as she began speaking and gave her a pointed look. She frowned at the look and continued, "-We appreciate the offer to help build up our fleet, I am not prepared to give up Salarian Dreadnought designs. We are; however, ready to work with everyone here on every other front."

"Well that's a start, at least," Lasky smiled and looked around the group until landing on Hackett who returned the small smile and looked back around the group who looked remarkably content with the rushed treaty being drawn.

 **February 21 – Sol System.  
**

"Good to be free, huh?" Joker laughed over his shoulder to Shepard who was leaning over the top of the pilot's chair and looking up through the window at the gathering fleet above them in high Earth orbit.

"Something like that," he laughed lowly in response and nodded at the fleet, "Any idea why the fleet's assembling?"

Joker shook his head and glanced back at his communications panel, "All I know is that I was given my wings back this morning and you were let out, and grumpy boots Kaiden's back!"

Shepard scoffed and straightened up from his leaning forward position, "And that Anderson gave us orders to retrieve Liara and some Prothean plans from Mars?"

Joker smirked and his fingers danced across the controls once more, "And that, we're off to pick up your lover."

"Shepard?"

The man pivoted to look to Kaidan's familiar voice as he approached along the gangway, "Kaidan, good to be working together again."

"Commander," Kaidan agreed with a nod, "What are we expecting?"

Shepard shrugged, "Not sure. Anderson told me that Liara has found vital Prothean plans in the Mars archives and that he also called for UNSC support from the Chief to back us up in case anything goes south."

Kaidan scoffed, "You mean when things go south?"

Shepard smirked slightly shrugged, "Joker?"

The top of the pilots head bobbed as he nodded, "Just clearing from the fleet before we go to FTL, Commander."

Shepard and Kaidan both slightly stooped to observe and confirm Joker's advisement as they sped past a cluster of cruisers moving to flank a nearby dreadnaught.

"Crazy to think that we've got new allies from a different dimension…" Kaidan spoke in a neutral voice, clearly unsure of exactly how to feel about it.

Shepard nodded at his Lieutenant commander, "One of them helped me stop the Collectors, the Master Chief, and apparently, he brought some of their fleet here after he went his way. He was a hell of a soldier, so I expect this UNSC to be valuable to our fight against Cerberus and the Reapers."

"What do we really know about this UNSC?" Kaidan said with a frown.

Shepard matched the frown and looked from Joker just as streaks of light started flashing through the forward viewscreen, signifying the jump to FTL.

He looked back to his new First Officer with the frown held pointedly in place, "Lieutenant, Admiral Hackett, the Salarian Dalatrass and Matriarch Lidanya just signed a treaty with the UNSC's Captain so I wouldn't have any doubts in our new allies."

"Besides," Joker called over his shoulder just as they returned to normal space above the red planet, "The Master Chief was a good guy! Hell, he was a bit stiff, but did he kick ass!"

"Kaidan, the Chief saved my life, he stopped the Reapers from using the Alpha Relay, and he finally made the Council accept that the Reapers are coming," Shepard said, supporting his pilot against the doubtful Major.

Kaidan held up his palms in defence, "Alright, sorry, it's just a lot to take in… I mean, it's hard enough accepting that you chose to work with Cerberus to benefit the Alliance."

"Kaidan-" Shepard sighed out his XO's name in a tired sense of frustration, only to be cut off by Joker.

"-We got Cerberus ships in Mars atmo! I'm counting one dreadnaught class, two cruiser class and two destroyer class ships!"

"Prepare for evasive manoeuvres, engage stealth and prepare to drop us off!" Shepard ordered as he instantly switched from his lingering personal tone to his all-business Commander voice.

"It would also appear that they have a sizable troop deployment within the Alliance facility," EDI added informatively from the cockpit speakers.

Joker's hand halted their dance across the display, and he leaned forward in his seat, "What the…" He shook his head and glanced to Shepard over his shoulder. "No need, Commander. The ships are holding, looks like they're keeping all of their attention on the ground, picking up a distress call from the facility though."

Shepard furrowed his brow in confusion to the fact that the Cerberus vessels were holding their position and silently wished that he still had the tactical mind of the Master Chief around still. He mentally scoffed at himself at the thought, realising he'd become far too accustomed in far too short a time to the Master Chief's tactical and physical lethality.

"They've deployed all of their troops, that's why they're holding," Shepard said, shaking his head in anger, "Play the distress call."

Shepard's heart instantly doubled its pace as a familiar voice came in over the speakers.

"This is Doctor Liara T'soni, the Prothean archives are under heavy attack! The security won't be able to-" Her voice was cut out by a background explosion before starting again, now slightly more panicked, "Security can't handle the Cerberus troops. They're after the Prothean data we uncovered and are deciphering! Someone, please help!"

Shepard instantly clenched his jaw in anger and grasped Joker's shoulder, "Take us down there right now."

The pilot nodded without hesitation and started on the controls, dipping the Normandy's nose toward the atmosphere.

"Shepard!" Kaidan called in surprise, pointing toward the upper arches of the view screen.

Both Shepard and Joker instantly spotted what he was pointing at as black hole rimmed by white energy slid open several thousand kilometres away, and a ship exited. Joker paused his motions of sending the Normandy into Mars's atmosphere and glanced to Shepard uncertainly.

Shepard likewise stared at the ship that'd just arrived as it turned to face Mars and accelerated. "UNSC ship?" Kaidan asked uncertainly.

As though to confirm his question, a familiar deep voice came from Jokers console, "This is the Sierra 117 of the UNSC Infinity escort, Strident One, Alliance vessel, do you copy?"

"Take us down, Joker," Shepard affirmed his pilot, activating his omni-tool as he did. "Chief, this is Shepard, tell us you'll be able to offer support for this? We're reading a lot of Cerberus troop's ground side."

"That's what I'm here for, Shepard. See you down there."

The line went dead, and the Normandy began to rock as they entered the thin Mars atmosphere. "Hold tight," Joker advised without breaking his concentrated gaze from the controls.

Within moments the detail that had been a glint of light from orbit had grown into the sprawling Alliance complex that was built around the Prothean Archives buried well below the surface. Shepard briefly spared a glance through the starboard side of the view screen at the Cerberus patterned dreadnaught holding its altitude with the smaller vessels nestled around it as Joker swung the ship around for a rapid deceleration.

"Chief?" Shepard asked into his omni-tool.

"Copy, Shepard?"

"Do not engage the Cerberus ships until we know what they're doing here. We can't risk losing the Prothean Archives," Shepard said into the display just as the Normandy began to settle on the orange-red ground not far from the complex.

"Understood, Shepard, Strident One will hold high orbit. We're on our way in a dropship." The gravelly voice instantly confirmed, making Shepard wonder who 'we' was.

"Joker, join the Chief's ship in orbit, I'll call you back down if we need you," Shepard dictated as he turned on his pilot and nodded to Kaidan.

"Aye, aye," Joker called over his shoulder as his two superiors jogged along the gantry toward the elevator.

Shepard and Kaidan ignored the skeleton crew in the dimly lit CIC as they jogged past and rushed into the elevator, selecting the hanger. The descent was fast and smooth, and the doors slid open to reveal a frowning James Vega.

"Shepard, what's happ-"

Shepard held up a palm as he marched passed the heavily muscled dark skinned marine, "We're on Mars to retrieve Liara, any other survivors and Prothean data before Cerberus gets it. We're being backed up by the Chief and his team."

Vega frowned in a moment of confusion before both he and Kaidan caught up to Shepard as he reached the manual release for the loading bay doors. The three men quickly placed their helmets on, and Shepard thumbed the door release, the room hissed as the pressure changed and the door lowered to the red sand below.

"You mean Cerberus is here?" Vega asked in a clearly confused voice as they made their way down the ramp, retrieving rifles from their backs as they did.

"Yeah, they've got a small fleet detachment holding above the far side of the complex, could be anywhere upwards of a thousand troops here," Kaidan answered for the Commander as they jogged down the ramp and onto a flat area overlooking the sprawling crater which cradled the Prothean Archives.

"Well, they didn't try and take any of the stations exterior power offline," Vega observed as they hurried past a small field of solar panels, the red mars dust billowing in the wake of their rushed footfalls.

Shepard and Kaidan both spared a glance to the solar panels but made no other attempt to answer Vega's observation as they continued on toward a ladder that dipped over the edge of a retaining wall. Shepard was the first one on it and slid down onto a well-used dirt road.

The whoosh of the Normandy passing overhead carried his gaze around from Jokers take-off to a smoking vehicle, pocket marked from what had clearly been a hailstorm of rifle fire with four Alliance armoured Marines collapsed against a wheel. Shepard cautiously approached the downed soldiers, trying to draw a conclusion about the circumstances of their deaths.

Kaidan thudded onto the dirt behind him and followed, likewise looking to the murder victims. "Didn't put up a fight," Kaidan observed, nodding to their dropped rifles with full thermal clips still slotted in and fully charged.

"Bastards!" Vega declared angrily.

Shepard clenched his jaw angrily and momentarily thought of the Illusive Man and wished that when he'd been able that he had located the terrorist leaders' base of operations. "Let's keep going."

The two subordinates didn't question their leader as they turned and jogged along the road along the rim of the chasm. As they neared a bend veering away from the crater gunshots filled the air. "Contact!" Shepard called as he dove around the retaining wall that marked the corner and rolled into cover behind one of a half dozen crates that littered the ground.

He peeked around the side with his Avenger assault rifle keened toward the origins of the gunshots and took stock of the scene. "I count five Alliance Marines holding up near the loading doors," Shepard advised to Vega and Kaidan as they settled their rifles on top of the crate to take in the scene themselves.

"And I count a hell of a lot of Cerberus!" Vega hissed in shock at the mass of white and yellow armoured troops running from one point of cover to the next, firing as they went, "How the hell could Cerberus even have this many troops?"

Shepard frowned within his helmet, not remotely sure and not really wanting to think about the most likely answer. Kaidan however, was much more comfortable voicing his grim thoughts, "Human colonies in the traverse and terminus go missing all the time…"

"Shepard, how are we meant to get through that?" Vega asked, "There's got to be a good fifty or so down there."

Shepard grimaced at the unfortunate fact just as a tracer round caught one of the Alliance defenders below in the helmet and set him sprawling, blooding oozing out of the back of his helmet into the soil.

"UNSC Pelican on hot approach, need that landing pad cleared?" A feminine voice announced into Shepard's teamcomm.

The three pivoted to look into the sky in the opposite direction of the Cerberus ships to see the UNSC dropship roaring in. It decelerated harshly with several hard banks to the left and the right until it came to a screaming hover above the Cerberus troops. The turret on the nose of the ship roared bullets and sent a third of the troops into their gory demise, limbs, chunks of flesh and bloody armour flying from the destructive rain of bullets.

The rest of the troops quickly aimed their weapon skyward and began to fire at the new threat, but not before a red beam splashed through their ranks, burning straight through another dozen and leaving two groups behind.

Shepard took his opportunity to vault over the crate and squeeze the trigger of his rifle, sending incendiary rounds streaming into the group to the right of the sole surviving Alliance Marine. His squad joined him moments later and made short work of the group before the dropships chain gun let out one final burst before a strangely eerie silence settled over the loading area, broken only by the whooshing bursts of the dropships thrusters stabilising its position.

Shepard swung his rifle over the carnage once before releasing his grip on the barrel and waving a hand up toward the cockpit of UNSC ship. Clearly having seen the gesture the ship quickly descended, its landing gear unfolding and setting it down amidst the death it had dealt to the Cerberus troops.

Shepard, Kaidan and Vega paced around to the back of the troop vessel to the sight of the ramp dropping and the Master Chief striding from within toward them, flanked by three other heavily armoured soldiers of smaller proportion.

They reached the bottom of the ramp, and each did a slow look around at the swathes of dead troopers before the golden visor of the Master Chief settled on Shepard, and he slightly stepped to the side, allowing the smaller alien crew who'd been hidden behind to step past, "Shepard, good to see you again."

Shepard let a short chuckle roll off his tongue at the Spartans casual greeting in the wake of dispatching all of the dead troops around them. "Likewise, Chief," He nodded pointedly to Garrus as the Turian stepped around the Spartans and made to inspect the death around them, before he directed his helmet at the other Spartans, "You're old team?"

John shook his head, "New team; Spartan's Sarah, Olympia and Buck," He said, looking from one to the next respectively to addressing their names. "We're dropping Garrus and Kasumi off with you too, for transport back to the Citadel."

At the calling of his name, Garrus tore his eyes from a Cerberus trooper whose body had been cleaved through from his shoulder to his naval, "Yeah, the UNSC is about the start assisting the allied races in preparing for the Reapers, I wanted to get back to the Citadel to contact my family and help C-Sec secure a smooth transition."

Shepard nodded at the explanation and looked to Kasumi next. Her face was hidden by her breather, so instead of her usual quirked lips she shrugged with her hands raised in the body language equivalent; "I kinda wanted to stay with the UNSC and help them out somehow… But you should see these guys in action! I felt totally useless in their new colony!"

"New colony?" Shepard instantly asked in confusion.

"We located the final Forerunner asset, it's an artificial world construct, we've begun colonising it as a base of operations," John explained simply.

"Shepard, you should see it, it's incredible!" Garrus added to John's far too simple explanation. "I mean, the UNSC won't need to settle any other worlds for a long, long, time."

"Come on Shepard! Let's kill some Cerberus!" Grunt growled excitedly, still somewhat behind the four Spartans, the three new ones still not having spoken a word that Shepard could hear, but from the limited knowledge that he had about the Master Chiefs suit and comms ability he was sure that they'd been speaking amongst each other during the short conversation.

Shepard shook his head at the morbidly excitable Krogan and refocused his mind to their intended destination. "We think there might be upwards of one thousand troops here, we need to proceed carefully."

Shepard couldn't see it, but within the helmets of each of the Spartans their lips quirked up in small but confident smiles. "We are here for Alliance assistance and asset denial, we'll be your distraction and breach team, we'll get you to where you need to go," the same feminine voice that announced the dropships approach voiced from the grey –clearly female- armoured Spartan.

Shepard looked to the Chief, and seeing the silence as a way of agreeing with the woman under his command, Shepard slightly grimaced at the obvious destructive capability of the extra-universal humans. "Right, I'll lead the way, we need to stay cautious either way, not knowing the layout of this base."

"Excuse me, Commander," The red armoured woman introduced as Olympia interjected, bringing his eyes to her. "We have the base's map; Hackett supplied us with information on all important facilities in the event of something like this."

Shepard wanted to laugh at the irony of the circumstance about the new UNSC assets being far better equipped than himself and his own team but easily held it back within his helmet with the frustration of the reality.

"Let's get on with it," John's firm voice relieved Shepard of trying to find a response that would keep him and his people on level ground with the UNSC.

Shepard nodded once and turned toward the vehicular airlock, stepping up the ramp the lead within toward the sole surviving marine within who was keeping a hand firmly pressed to his hip. Shepard mentally kicked himself for not taking notice of the man until now, seeing that he was clearly holding a bullet hole shut to prevent his suit decompressing.

Shepard's extended team and the Spartans marched into the airlock, and the marine didn't hesitate to press the button by the door to initiate the airlock cycle and the doors closed. The room hissed as the pressure changed and green lights flashed overhead.

All of Shepard's team instantly took the opportunity to remove their helmets and check their weapons thermal clips. The buzz cut Alliance Commander caught the Spartans pointedly looking at them, and once more he withheld the desire to laugh at the fact that they more than likely considered the removal of their helmets in a combat zone foolhardy.

"There they are! Engage!" An electronically modulated voice called from above the group.

They all instantly pivoted to face the Cerberus trooper on a balcony above, the light streaming into the room from behind him telling them of the open door and likely approaching troops behind.

Only several tracer rounds came from the trooper before two quick three round bursts from Sarah's battle rifle caught him in the chest and neck, sending blood spraying through the air and the soldier toppling over. "More contacts inbound," she simply advised.

"Frag out!" Buck called, priming a grenade he'd pulled from his hip and tossing it into the unseen doorway.

Two seconds based before a heavy THWAMP bellowed from above and a blossom of explosive flame billowed out, the concussive force throwing bloodied white armour in their direction.

"Shepard, your team should proceed from the next loading bay and stay on mission, we'll proceed toward the archives on the upper level from this loading bay and make as much noise as possible, try and draw them away from you," John advised; his three troops already following his order and jumping toward the balcony, their jump jets hidden in their armour activating and thrusting them upward.

"Got it Chief," Shepard answered with a nod.

"There wouldn't be this many Cerberus troops here if whatever this data is wasn't important," Vega began with a clenched jaw, "We gotta make sure that they don't get it."

John's helmeted head nodded once at the Alliance shock trooper before following in his team's wake, joining them on the balcony above within moment and shouldering his battle rifle and motioning his team forward.

Shepard mimicked the action to his own team and began toward the door below at a quick jog, his team quickly falling into step behind him with their own weapons raised. The mixed species team hurried after Shepard as he bound through a doorway and down a short corridor past a security checkpoint until they reached another identical vehicle bay from the one they'd entered through. The sound of distant gunfire informing them that the UNSC Spartans were doing what they said they'd do toward relieving the pressure of Cerberus from the base.

The group quickly halted in their tracks, however, as gunshots sounded from ahead of them. Shepard trained his rifle on the air duct above the upper floor corridor similar to the one the Chief had just departed through and held up his left fist to his team.

They each fluidly fell into his command and crouched behind low walls and vehicles with their own weapons raised. A moment later and the grating exploded from the air duct and a blue and white dressed form dove out. Liara landed into a roll and flung a biotic singularity at where she'd just escaped from, drawing the four Cerberus troopers who'd been pursuing her from the duct and leaving them spinning helplessly in the air.

Liara drew her pistol, but not before Shepard squeezed the trigger of his Avenger and sent a stream of incendiary rounds into the enemy soldiers. They grunted in their strange mechanical voices as they ignited, and his entire team quickly added their bullets to the barrage for a moment until the singularity dissipated.

"Liara!" Shepard called as he stood from his crouch, relief written all over his face.

The expression was instantly matched by the young Asari, and she clutched Shepards reaching hands as he approached, squeezing briefly in affection before giving a tired smile and a nod to Garrus and Kaiden, the two faces in Shepard's current team that she did actually know.

"How could Cerberus be recruiting so many colonists, though?" Vega's uncertain and frustrated voice drew their attention from what was about to be a small reunion to him standing over one of the bloodied deceased troopers.

"I don't think they're willingly recruited…" Kasumi mused with a grimace as she stepped into the small circle that Shepard, Liara and Kaiden had formed around one another in greeting, "Kasumi Goto, I've heard great things," She quietly introduced herself to the Asari with a gentle smile.

Liara had likewise heard great things about the master thief and smiled back as she accepted the shake. Her shadow broker intel had informed her a great deal about the thief who'd been serving with Shepard in fighting the Collectors.

"Shepard, what do you know about Cerberus having troops?" Kaiden abruptly asked with suspicion written on his face.

Liara's eyes instantly widened at the direct accusation and implication through her former teammate's words and across his face. Shepard frowned and clenched his jaw in suppressed frustration, having already come up against Kaiden's less than accepting nature.

A hiss of pressure sounded from beneath Vega's hands over the trooper's helmet, and the faceplate slid back, "What the!" He exclaimed in shock and took a quick step back.

Garrus reacted oppositely and stepped forward, stooping over the dead soldier, "Looks like they've used Reaper tech, like some kind of advanced husk…"

"By the goddess, how could they do this to people?" Liara said, her eyes wide in horror.

Shepard grit his teeth in anger at the revelation and found Kaiden's eyes on him with even more suspicion than before. "You look like you expected this, Shepard? Do you have stuff like this in you too?"

Shepard's instinct was to clench his fingers into a fist and strike his Leuitenent across the face, but he suppressed the unbecoming urge and met Kaiden's eyes with a steely gaze, "Actually I did expect something like this. The Illusive Man was always obsessed with Reaper tech, and there's no way that any colonists willingly joined his cause, but how can-"

"-Shepard has been in Alliance custody the past few weeks, you've seen his medical reports, Lieutenant, you know that he doesn't have any implants like this," Vega interrupted with an angry frown directed at Kaiden.

Shepard gave a nod of thanks to the latest addition to his squad of regulars and simply shook his head at Kaiden, "Let's finish the mission, while you're trying to accuse me of being some kind of traitor, the Master Chief and his team are fighting for our people."

Kaiden instantly paled as he realised that he'd allowed his personal foibles gain dominance over the mission at hand, and he suddenly found the floor easier to look at.

"Elevator over here," Grarus called as he waved them over.

Everyone quickly assembled around the Turian, and the small loading elevator ascended to the second level. Shepard put the issue of Kaiden to the back of his mind and raised his rifle and marched forward, entrusting that at least most of his squad would be working in tandem with him.

The group proceeded down a stretching hallway smeared with damage from a sustained gunfight and past dozens of dead from both sides. Shepard caught movement ahead at the last moment as a round pinged off his shields, and he dove into cover behind one of the reoccurring bulkhead along the corridor.

He quickly swung his gaze around and saw that his squad had mimicked him. "Ten or more of them!" Garrus shouted, bringing his incisor sniper rifle to bear on the top of the bulkhead and taking careful aim, despite the rain of rounds that pinged off the walls around them.

Shepard copied his friend and placed his Avenger onto his back and retrieved his Mantis sniper rifle, taking aim on the shield bearing enemies. "Garrus, you've got a better scope than me; are those slits in the shields covered or not?"

Garrus steadied his aim and went completely silent for a moment, then his rifle bucked against his shoulder from the triple bullet shot and blood exploded from the troopers head behind the full body shield he carried. "Unshielded eye sights," He confirmed.

Shepard instantly took aim on another and pulled the trigger. Unlike Garrus's shot, however, his bullet didn't meet success; it ricocheted off the soldiers head and embedded in the ceiling, bringing the trooper's weapon around to focus fire on Shepard's location.

He quickly squeezed off two more rounds and ducked back behind cover, "Liara, are they close enough for you to use your biotics?"

She shook her head and reached around cover to fire off a trio of shots from her pistol. Before Shepard could find a next best option, Grunt roared in excitement and rose from his position of cover, and his shield lit up in fortification. He charged forward with his Claymore shotgun barking its report toward the enemy.

He instantly drew all of their fire and Shepard rose up enough to see that the Krogan's notoriously destructive shotgun was yielding no result against the enemy. Another triple shot sounded from across the corridor as Garrus fired, and another trooper crumpled to the ground, only to be replaced by one of the many that they could now see marched behind as backup.

"I got this, Shep," Kasumi whispered next to his ear, making him jump in surprise at her invisible presence.

Shepard watched two of his grenades lift off his belt, and seemingly float through the air as Kasumi loped after Grunt who was once more moving to take cover as his fortification shields fizzed from the amount of fire he was taking.

The familiar clank of the cylindrical grenades bouncing along a hard floor told Shepard that Kasumi had tossed the first one. He watched it bounce along the floor and come to a stop right in front of shield wall that was slowly approaching them. It detonated with a WHOMP, and the ten shield bearers in the lead were thrown back into the shields of their comrades who marched behind them.

Shepard grimaced at the lack of effectiveness of the grenade, but caught the flicker of light as Kasumi in her still cloaked cover took the opportunity to dive around the edge of the formation and completely disappear behind their ranks. Moments later another explosion sent a dozen of the enemy troops flying from its point of origin in the middle of their ranks, many of them dead or severely wounded.

Shepard didn't take pity on his enemy, however, and instantly stood back up, smoothly switching from his Mantis back to his Avenger and firing at the troops whose shields were down. "Move up! Give Liara and Grunt cover to get close!"

The team reacted in perfect synchronicity and jogged forward, everyone firing their weapons as they did and felling the enemy ahead, leaving the floor clogged with fallen Cerberus bodies oozing blood. Once more Grunt charged forward, but this time reaching the still standing enemy ranks with his head lowered and ready for impact.

His bulk met the lowered shield of one of the still coherent Cerberus troops and sent him crashing into another behind him. Grunt didn't relent, he stepped forward again and crashed his head forward into the chest of the soldier and sent him crumpling to the floor.

Grunts claymore reported from his grip and splashed the soldier's brains across the feet of his comrade who was likewise too slow to defend against the excited Krogan who was already levelling his shotgun for a second blast. Shepard pulled the secondary trigger on his rifle and fired a concussive shot into the troopers shield, sending it arching up from the impact and giving Grunt a clear sight into his chest.

He fired, and the chest armour and flesh underneath was pulverised from the point-blank shot. Kaidan and Liara were next to step into the fray, sending a cooperative singularity into the centre of the remaining Cerberus soldiers and picking them off the ground like toys, along with several of their dead comrades.

Shepard, Garrus, Grunt and Vega fired into the floating enemies and made short work of finishing them off. "Vega, what's the count?" Shepard called as he hurried past the downed enemies along the corridor that lead to an intersecting one with a large glass wall looking over the looming crater that housed the archives.

Vega and the rest of the squad trampled over the dead enemies after their leader, "Thirty-six troops in that group, they're definitely here in force."

Shepard grimaced at the confirmation of their ships readings and sprinted for the intersection ahead toward the cacophony of gunfire. He reached it in a dive and rolled around the corner to the right.

He rose back into cover behind a bulkhead next to the large window and looked to the back of the formation of Cerberus soldiers who were attempting to advance down the corridor away from the direction of the tramline that lead to the archives. Garrus and Liara slid into cover beside him and likewise took aim at the troops whose attention wasn't remotely on them.

"Shepard!"

Shepard grimaced at the not remotely tactical calling of his name from Grunt who rounded the corner and turned left instead of right, unlike himself and the two who were already with him. Naturally, he looked to the Krogan who was already charging in the other direction toward a phalanx of Cerberus armour.

"Shit! Shepard, they're left and right," Kaidan called as he followed in Grunt's wake, his rifle bucking against his shoulder as he unloaded into the approaching troops.

A flash of red caught Shepard's eye, and he identified the red armoured Spartan he'd been introduced to earlier backflipping off a wall and landing among the enemy. She was lost from sight, but the ranks reacted defensively to her presence and stumbled back. Shepard's ear caught the distinctive sound of the UNSC weapons, and he tore his eyes from the enemy who must have known that they were there but were keeping their attention forward.

"Liara, Garrus, take the squad ahead, deal with the incoming, I'll cover these troops!" Shepard roared over the din of the battle.

The two nodded once in acceptance of the order and jumped from cover to follow in the wake of the rest of the squad who'd turned toward the direction of the tramline and were taking pot-shots at the formation of Cerberus spearheaded by the shield bearers that was approaching.

The Commander quickly drew his eyes back in the direction of the most imminent threat and saw the results of another UNSC frag grenade go off as six troops exploded into chunks of meat and splatted the walls and their comrades. Shepard saw a flash of familiar daunting sandy green armour juggernaut through the failing formation. Muzzle flashes showed Olympia's position as she fired directly up into the array of lights overhead.

They shattered, and the corridor dimmed, now only lit by the pale soft hued natural Mars light coming in through the windows. Shepard switched back to his Mantis and started picking off troopers from the back of the formation who were far too focused on the Spartans in their midst to notice him.

He lowered his rifle as he saw the Chief in a circle of the dead troops and half a dozen more levelling their rifles at him. The grey armoured Sarah sent one of them crashing to the ground with a heel kick to his back and fired her raised magnum point blank into the side of the head of another.

His head exploded out the other side of his helmet, and Sarah sprinted to the Chief. Shepard realised that the squad of Spartans must have been talking to one another within their helmets to be so perfectly cohesive and silent. She dove for her leader with an outreached left hand; his own left hand released the barrel of his rifle as he still fired with his right as he caught her momentum, he spun on his heel and released her into the soldiers who were nearest to Shepard.

She crashed into them and sent them tumbling away and then rolled to her feet, her pistol once more bucking within her grasp at the enemy besieging her team. Shepard dashed forward and shouldered his rifle, he skidded to a halt next to her and sprayed rounds into the Cerberus soldiers.

Five final chocked barks from the now visible Buck from his shotgun downed the remaining troops, and Olympia raised her own pistol to fire into the soldiers on the ground who were still exhibiting signs of life.

Sarah relaxed her stance slightly and looked down at Shepard, "Thanks for the assist, they were committed to clogging up that corridor," She nodded past where the Chief, Buck and Olympia were stepping through the layered dead on the floor. Shepards eyes followed the nodded direction and saw the intersecting corridor not far beyond to the group of dead Cerberus troops that lay scattered there and the blood and chunks of flesh that had painted the walls.

Shepard stelled his resolve against the bloody combat and looked into John's visor as he stepped closer, "Shepard," He greeted and nodded over Shepard's shoulder to his own squad combating the approaching formation. "One hundred meters down that corridor to the tramline, then a straight shot to the archives."

"Noted," He agreed, "Much trouble getting here?"

"I stopped counting," Buck grunted as he reloaded his shotgun and pistol.

Shepard caught Olympia doing the same to his left and noticed that the vast majority of the ammunition he'd seen magnetised to their bodies earlier was gone. He shook his head and looked back toward his squad defending up ahead at the difficult truth that he and the Spartans outclassed their enemy in every way, but they needed ammunition to efficiently dispatch them.

"I know," John pre-empted, drawing Shepard's curious eye. "We're low on ammo. We're going to break through that formation, draw their attention, and then your squad is going to fill in behind us and mop them up."

"Chief, I can't count how many are in that-"

"-Eighty in that group," Sarah interrupted.

Shepard frowned at her for clarification which she willingly obliged, "Our motion trackers are very accurate."

"We clear on the strategy?" John asked Shepard and started striding forward despite the lack of immediate response. "I guess we are," Shepard said without a single syllable sounding sure just as the Spartans broke into an instant and blindingly fast sprint.

He followed in their wake, activating his omni-tool as he did, "Squad, Spartans will be breaching their formation, we're following!"

He didn't have time to check if his team had acknowledged his order before the Spartans sped past them and quickly closed the gap between them and the Cerberus soldiers, their shields lighting up as they struggled under the hail of mass effect rounds directed at them.

But their durability held true, and they shoulder charged their way through the first line of shield-bearing troops, firing as they did. More of the station was painted red with blood as the Spartans forcefully carved a path into the enemy troops, downing dozens within seconds.

Garrus and Liara were the first of Shepard's squad to race into the close quarters battle, and they instantly started loosing their specialised attacks.

Garrus fired several concussive blasts in troops who were about the fire into Olympia's back, and Liara threw a singularity above the middle of the formation, drawing a whole section of them into the air.

The Spartans pushed relentlessly deeper in the formation and Shepard's squadmates filled in the gaps, continually firing and reloading as they tore their enemy apart.

"At least these guys go down easy!" Shepard heard the masculine and distinctly amused tone from the black armoured Spartan; Buck.

"Don't tempt your luck, Spartan, there'll be more where that came from," Garrus called back in victorious banter as they halved the number of their enemy.

"Heh heh, bring 'em onnnn!" Grunt growled in excited fury as he charged passed John and barrelled into three troops.

John quickly stepped forward to support the Krogran and unsheathed his combat knife and began opening the necks of troopers in splashes of blood.

"You've got more troops deploying from the dreadnaught now, and two of the destroyers have taken a position directly over the archives," A new masculine and well-spoken voice advised through the entire assembled groups comms.

Kasumi gasped as a round finally made its way past the Spartans and tore through her shield, Kaidan instantly dove and rolled to her aid; dragging her behind a pile of dead Cerberus troopers and slapping a pack of medi-gel over the bleeding wound in her abdomen.

"Thanks, Roland," John answered over the open comms just as a trio of grenades detonated in front of him and threw him back into Vega who had been using John as cover to fire on the troops.

"Chief, we can't keep this up!" Shepard winced as he heard himself call. "You mentioned asset denial earlier?"

Shepard noticed and ignored the astounded look that Liara instantly shot at him and kept her eyes glued on the immediate threat as he reloaded and started firing again.

"Shields down," John advised as he rolled back to his feet and dragged Vega with him into cover behind one of the bulkheads, bullets pinging off his armour as he went.

"Chief!"

John shook his head and recalled Shepard's statement, looking to him as the rest of the squad started scattering to cover. "Strident One is carrying enough ordinance to wipe this place out."

Shepard nodded in grim acceptance as rolled from cover just to jump into cover behind a low pile of bodies that was shielding Kaidan and Kasumi. "Everyone, fall back! We'll dust off with the Spartans dropship."

"Shepard! We can't abandon the archives!" Liara called angrily from where he'd previously been. "You've got no idea how much knowledge is stored here!"

"Liara, if we can't have it, we can't let Cerberus have it," Shepard rebutted as he looked over Kaidan's handiwork that was keeping Kasumi's wound shut. "Everyone fall back!"

"Covering!" Buck called as he broke into a sprint from his cover and resumed his previous task of dispatching Cerberus troops in quick order.

True to his actions, the troops shifted their fire from suppressing and advancing on the squads in cover and started shooting at Buck. Shepard felt a wave of relief as his entire squad took the opportunity gained by the Spartan to stand and sprint back the way they'd come toward the corridor that the Spartans had taken from the loading bay.

"Time to go, Shepard," John called, then looked down to the Alliance shook trooper still shooting around his body, "And you too, Vega."

"Right, sir, better not hang around long," Vega answered and instantly followed the prompting, sprinting in the wake of his team with Shepard joining him.

"Our turn now, Chief?" Buck asked as he slid back into cover again with a heavy breath and Olympia and Sarah took their turn in popping up from cover and opening fire onto the reorganising Cerberus just as several of the shield bearing ones pushed to the front to of the survivors.

"Go, Buck!" John ordered and looked to the two female Spartan's kneeling in the middle of the corridor, "Olympia, Sarah, you too!"

John rose from his cover and retrieved the final grenade from his belt, having kept it in the event of needing to make a tight escape. He primed it with a bump against his thigh and lobbed it toward the enemy, Sarah and Olympia already having spun on their heels and started sprinting away.

John fired a final string of rounds toward the enemy to prevent any from having the necessary time to kick the grenade away as it struck the ground and rolled toward them. A moment of silence followed as he emptied the rounds in the magazine and he copied his squad and spun around and made to sprint back the way they'd come over the dead Cerberus who lined the floor.

The grenade detonated behind the racing Spartan as he rounded the corner that he and his squad had fought so hard to get to only ten minutes earlier. He spied his and Shepard's squad waiting for him at the balcony to the vehicle bay that they'd entered from and he focused on his stride to reach them more quickly.

John dashed past the remains of the foes he'd dispatched and neared the group, "Green to go."

The verbal confirmation given; Shepard slammed his palm into the airlock controls and the door connecting the bay to the rest of the station shut. The air around them was filled with streams of nitrogen as the clearly damaged airlock tried to normalise the pressure of the room before it finally opened to the external assembly area which they'd landed in earlier.

"Get on board!" Sarah ordered loudly and rushed ahead of the group toward the Pelican. A moment later John checked his HUD and saw why she was so rushed at the red wave of blips on his motion tracker being updated from the Stridents data feed.

Thankfully for the Spartan, the entire group took her urgency seriously, and they rushed after her, over the deceased Cerberus and into the troop bay of the ship. "Everyone in?" She called from the cockpit just as John stepped aboard.

His gaze momentarily swung over the Spartans, Alliance and Aliens in the bay, "Everyone is in!' He called back in confirmation.

The troop bay instantly shut, and everyone grabbed onto the walls and ceiling as they were hit with inertia from a very quick take off.

"Breaking atmo in five!" Her voice called over the intercom.

John squeezed through the group packed into the bay and reached the cockpit door. He slipped through and loomed over Sarah in the pilot's seat, "Bring up Strident One."

Her helmet gave a small nod in acknowledgement, and her right hand left the yolk to key the radio, "Sword team to Strident One, do you read?"

"This is Lieutenant Haverson, we're reading a lot of movement down there!" A masculine voice replied.

John leaned over Sarah's shoulder and spoke toward the radio, "Lieutenant, this has become an asset denial mission. I authorise the deployment of our Shiva warheads."

"Yes sir," He answered instantly. "Sir, we're seeing the two destroyers in what seems to be a pursuit trajectory?"

"Sarah?" He asked.

She tapped a feed to her left, and one of the tactical aft camera feeds showed the two vessels rising into the sky below them, "I think they're bugging out, John."

John naturally suppressed the small wave of happiness and familiarity that Sarah had finally started taking on his way of addressing the team and had called him by name as the situation drew his attention onto the circumstances at hand.

"Shiva's ready to fire, Chief," The Lieutenant spoke from the radio.

"Fire," John dictated instantaneously.

"Shiva's away," Answered the fast response just as the sky through the cockpit shifted from red-orange to black as they broke the bonds of the atmosphere and sped toward the Strident Frigate with the Normandy situated off her bow.

The door opened behind John, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Shepard squeezing into the free space on the other side of Sarah's chair to peer through the canopy. "What's that?" He asked with a pointing finger and a concerned voice to the two missiles as they streaked by and dove into the atmosphere.

Sarah continued on unabated toward the Strident but pulled the aft camera feed up onto a screen to her left. Shepard and John both peered at it, showing the Alliance facility bellow with the Dreadnaught and the two Cruisers still holding position above it. The missiles streaked into the very top and middle of the complex and detonated. The immediate area around the facility through the camera feed went white from the explosive power of the nuke.

"Successful hit, Chief," The Lieutenant said from the radio. "Looks like those ships were vaporised."

"And the Destroyers?" Sarah asked back in John's stead.

"Just went to FTL, Spartan Palmer."

Shepard stared at the display of the former Alliance site growing smaller as they reached high orbit and made a beeline toward the Normandy, "I can't believe we just nuked the Prothean Archives…"

Neither John nor Sarah replied for a moment before the woman glanced over her shoulder to see the shock written across the Alliance Commanders face. "They were important to the Alliance, weren't they?"

He nodded, finally looking from the screen to the canopy and his ship beyond, "Very, thanks to them we discovered Mass Effect science and spread out into the galaxy… And who knows what this new data could have been."

"At least no one can get it now," John consoled carefully.

Shepard only shook his head in response, shocked by the drastic action until John spoke again; "And now that you're out of lockdown, you can help us unite the races against the Reapers."

The line drew Shepard's full attention, and he met the point of John's visor that he knew hid his eyes. He gave a firm nod and small smile at the progressive point. "Good to have you here, Chief."


	11. Chapter 11

**Much quicker in updating this time around! So I'm resolved on the final direction that the plot of this FanFic will take, and I will most definitely complete it. At a rough guess, I think it will be complete at around Chapter Thirty.  
Though I am not one hundred percent on the chapter to chapter story content. I'm still debating if John (Chief) should have a pairing, but I am pushing it toward Tali, and to what extent.  
I am bringing Shepard back into the story more, starting with this Chapter.  
Should I have the UNSC (Glassman and Halsey) supply gene therapy treatment technology to the Quarians to improve their immune systems to human-normal levels?  
To the fans who take a particular interest in story Lore, if you go into my profile you can follow a link to my Deviantart account and keep up to date with the updates Galaxy Maps I'll upload as the story progresses and territories change.**

 **If you're a fan who loves Halo Canon but doesn't want to read all the books and such, in my last review response I've replied with a really simplified cut down Halo timeline by way of response.**

 **Review responses:  
(Do check these if you're interested in me responding to you, I respond to any review that poses question or further information)**

 **Fenrir Wylde Razgriz:**

Well, I hope you keep on enjoying! It's mostly going to be story based filler until the arrival of the Reapers in maybe 2-3 Chapters.

 **Dasiy Rhine:  
** Thanks! If you want to go a little more in-depth, check out my Deviantart for the galaxy map.

 **Scarease:  
** No, they did not, that little plot hole will swing back around later on.

 **Jjcoop95:  
** Yes, I did, but not in the normal fashion as depicted in the Canon. I didn't want to take that plotline too deep for possibly becoming confusing to readers who aren't super up with the Lore.

 **Artyom-Dreizehn:  
** Indeed that is so! I actually reference the Sarcophagus, now known as Trevelyan Research facility, formerly Onyx when describing the new shield world – Now named Erda. Hope that you keep on enjoying my chapters :)

 **Doctor Dandy:  
** That was intentional; I like to judge Shepard's character contextually. In ME he can be cool, smooth, badass, effective and whatnot, but by Halo military standards, he's unprofessional and practically undisciplined. Over the course of the story, I'll be advancing Shepard into a more Halo-like state of soldiering and leading.  
That's so as to say, when just playing ME, Shepard is easy to enjoy and like. But if you introduced him to Halo, then he'd stick out like a sore thumb.

 **qjlaga123:  
** I don't think you'll see this, considering the tone of your review, but I shall answer all the same.  
 **1.** I'm not sure how you're defining "the way Halo Humans are portrayed" because, throughout the entirety of the fiction, they are portrayed in a myriad of ways. In the mainline games (1-3) they are certainly seen as bold, brave, and resolute. In Halo 4 after bravely heading into Requiem to find Chief, their immediate reaction (Del Rio) is to escape, not risk Humanities most important ship. In Halo 5 we see that Humanity is a lot more fractured than all the previous games made them out to be and are more than willing to run away if it serves.  
Then to bring into account the further lore from the books/comics. The Infinity was built as a colony escape ship (as well as a warship) to begin with. If it had been complete by Halo 3 then it would have loaded up with all the highest priority people and shot off in a random direction into the galaxy to outrun the Covenant, as it was originally designed for.  
Human sacrifice during the entire war was unending, in order to slow the Covenant, but just as many flat out tried to run, even UNSC forces.  
So to add the threat of the Guardian's to all of what is known within Canon, it is not remotely beyond creative stipulation that Lasky would order them to run away, being informed on how much more powerful Forerunner technology is than Humans and even Covenant. In fact, at the end of Halo 5, they do run away, and when questioned on this, Lasky replies "Only until we can work out how to fight back." Why do you assume that is any different here? This plot is only in its early stages.

 **2.** The Forerunners were control freaks, and evolved from supremacists to boot (That was the whole purpose of the Guardians). However, I didn't mention that in the story, I did mention how modern Humanity was dealing with the negative side effects of Forerunner actions. So here's a brief, cut down -and slightly paraphrased for convenience sake- timeline of Halo Canon:

Precursors achieve transcendent technology, traveling from galaxy to galaxy seeding them with life – Precursors create (along with creating the other species of the Milky Way) and educate the Forerunners – Sometime during that period, they decide Forerunners are not fit for the mantle, and select Humanity (Unclear if they took steps toward educating Humanity too) – Due to the previous happenings, Forerunners wage war on Precursors and (apparently) successfully push Precursors all the way to Path Kethona (Large Magellanic cloud)

– Precursors who survived in the physical transformed themselves into dust to be reformed and shot these ships back toward the galaxy in real space(took a loooong time to arrive) – Forerunner empire develops and expands over a majority of the galaxy – Humanity discovers the Precursor dust, experiment with it, and the Flood is born –

Flood war leads Humanity into conflict with the Forerunners as they eradicate Forerunner worlds that were infected (without the Forerunners knowledge) and eventually defeats the Flood by forcing them to flee from the galaxy; It is implied that Humanity never truly had the upper hand, that the Flood allowed themselves to be defeated (This is seen as Humanity passing the test for the Mantle by the primordial so it is to be assumed that the Precursors did intentionally create the Flood to test Humanity and the Forerunners)

– Forerunner – Human war ends, Ur-Didact now despises Humanity for their brutal tactics and then de-evolves Humanity into several subspecies – Forerunner-Flood war kicks off (Warrior servants under the Didact remain hateful of Humanity –despite being warily respectful) Forerunners are clearly on the losing side of the war and the Librarian with her life workers and Faber with his Builders using known history and lessons decide on the Halo plan and intend for Humanity to take the mantle, considering their sheer effectiveness in dealing with the Flood earlier –

Halo is fired and some surviving Forerunners return to the Capital to reboot the Domain(Precursor technology), where they discover a Precursor AI, Abandon, and a section of the truth behind the formation of the Forerunner empire; proving the Didacts judgement and punishment on mankind to have been unjust, the other Forerunner survivors leave the galaxy on "A final great journey.".

– Covenant forms from the San'Shyuum reformists who stole the Forerunner Keyship from the Stoics and eventually have a war with the Sangheili which leads to be formation of the Covenant, using the luminary in the Keyship they track down as much Forerunner technology as possible and continue their technological evolution –

Humanity evolves and doesn't discover any hints of the Forerunners for a long time, and none of it immediately usable – Annnnnd the rest of basically the Halo games about the Covenant trying to kill humanity being Truth, Mercy and Regret (as of the beginning of the war) becoming the Hierarchs and wanting to destroy Humanity for being the Reclaimers and threatening what holds their Covenant together.  
So to sum it up real basically, the only well-intended thing that the Forerunners did for Humanity ended up almost destroying Humanity.  
But as a very big fan of Halo as what I see as being one of the most well fleshed out sci-fi's of the past thirty years, you can probably get the hint that I am quite up to date with the whole range of the Halo Canon from the games through books through comics.  
I'm sure this comes out as confrontational or even derisive in tone, but as a response to the tone you used in your review, I felt it fit to answer fully based on Canon.

 **Chapter Eleven  
.:: This Is How It Unfolds? ::.**

 **February 27 – Omega space.  
**

Shepard kept his face blank and his mind sharp, his eyes reflected the professional soldiering discipline that he'd largely lacked since the missions that had immediately proceeded his receiving his N7 designation. He needed every ounce of the discipline as the reptilian orangey red eyes from the saurian aliens head stared him down in obvious judgement.

"Are you sure that you and your crew are sufficient-" The deep and vaguely feminine voice form the alien paused and gave Shepard a brief moment for the revelation of how alien this creature was from what he knew to once more strike through his mind's eye. "-Are prepared for this kind of mission?" The alien finished.

"Yes, me and my crew can handle this kind of mission, Mahkee," Shepard said, answering the Sangheili adorned in the rust coloured armour he assumed was typical for her people, as were her two clansmen who stood behind her and loomed even taller again.

"We might not have had as much of an active war as what you and the UNSC had back where you're from, but we can get the job done," He expanded with a hint of uncertainty in his voice as her eyes bore into his. Any other form of conventional mission, even with the new aliens, and there wouldn't have been the most remote touch of uncertainty, but this kind of mission was a complete first.

He'd done missions before that were kept classified, but never something that would fall into a true black ops category. The thought shook him and removed some of the shining surface from his vision of his people.

The stare lasted a moment longer before her mandibles split, into what Shepard assumed was a smile or at least a look of approval. She nodded her elongated head and shifted her stance to regard the two other Sangheili behind her, still standing in the umbilical that connected her Lich to Shepard's frigate as she stood just beyond the airlock.

"Sezra, Kur'oc, the Commander appears to be a creature of his word, go and make sure the Unggoy are ready for boarding actions and prepare yourselves."

The two towering aliens both nodded somewhat alike to a bow and turned on the spot and headed back into the purple lit confines of their ship with a purpose.

"Shipmaster Mahkee, you trust in this plan?" Shepard asked up to the Sangheili's piercing eyes.

Her head nodded again and looked first over Shepard's shoulder to his left to where Joker was twisted in his seat to regard them, then over his other shoulder to where Liara, Vega and Kaidan were grouped to see their first Sangheili in person. Shepard was likewise doing his best to keep his fascination and fear from his face to present his best to the new ally.

Only two days earlier Hackett had called him via the QEC when he had just finished debriefing to Alliance HQ about the failed Mars mission and informed him of his new mission. To aid their new alien allies who were acting under UNSC command in raiding and capturing vessels within the Terminus Systems before trading them to the Turian Hierarchy under the auspices of the Shadow Broker as a neutral party who would prefer to see a Turian dominated Milky Way.

He'd initially felt the urge to question the order. To question who these aliens were, despite the Master Chief having vouched for them, to question the secretive nature and morally grey mission. But his mind as always worked faster than his mouth, and he suppressed the urge and isolated his undisciplined sensation as the unfortunate side effects of firstly being escalated to Spectre and then almost totally freed of any command structure when he'd been resurrected.

But he'd done what someone of his status should do and accepted the order, and the Normandy had jumped to Omega where they'd immediately rendezvoused with the deeply alien looking frigate sized ship which had been waiting for them tucked away amongst the pylons which supported Omega's superstructure to the eezo rich asteroid.

Shepard had been surprised immediately upon Joker bringing the Normandy into docking distance of the vessel, only to be contacted via the cockpits communications unit with a vid feed showing Afterlife and the typical crowds lining up to enter.

Mahkee had made first verbal contact with them and explained that she and her two squad members were using advanced cloaking technology to insert and acquire vessel trajectory information. The wording had made Shepard realise that they were going to plunder Aria's office which he knew to be hidden behind Afterlife's VIP section.

Mahkee had explained that she and her infiltration team had been holding position waiting for his guidance. More shocked by the cold efficiency of the aliens than anything, Shepard had immediately complied and verbally guided Mahkee through the roundabout way of getting into the VIP section.

Her displayed camera feed confirmed to him that she and her subordinates did indeed have an extremely hard to focus on cloaking active as they weaved between the crowds and guards until reaching the discreet door at the very rear of the VIP section of Afterlife which was guarded by two hard-eyed armoured Batarians.

The camera feed got closer and closer to the two before a small blue energy blade ignited from where Shepard assumed Mahkee's hand must have been and quickly slashed halfway through the necks of both of them. Her invisible squad catching them before they hit the ground and placing them in slumped positions on the either side of the door before filing through.

What had followed had been a simple matter of Shepard explaining the interface of Aria's computer system as Mahkee navigated the device and downloaded all of the available data.

It outlined shipping lanes, various mercenary movements, the actions of the ships and forces directly under her command, and the mission requests from representatives of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack groups.

They all had to essentially live under Aria's rule within the Terminus systems, and request permission to run their operations, or at the very least declare a rough outline of what they were doing and where to avoid any unwanted conflicts.

Mahkee had been very fast and efficient in her task, having lead Shepard to assume that in another life she had probably done something similar to her former UNSC enemy. But unlike how she would have normally proceeded in that former life, she carefully backtracked when finished and deleted each data entry she'd used.

Then doing a sloppy job hacking into several of Aria's accounts linked to Thessia and redistributing vast sums of money to several Omega based species rights groups who Shepard had explained had been gaining a little bit of traction in the past few years.

Their exfiltration had been just as fast as the infiltration, and before long Shepard had seen the three now uncloaked alien forms diving from an open maintenance hatch toward the top side of their Lich designation ship. A moment later Joker had initiated docking, and Mahkee with her soldiers had crossed the umbilical to make proper first contact.

"The Master Chief is a profoundly skilled warrior and leader, I trust in his orders," Mahkee answered, at last, drawing Shepard's mind from mulling over just how fast things were moving.

Shepard nodded slowly, more to himself than the alien and gestured from his squad to come closer with a wave of his hand, "Do you need help going through the data you collected?"

Her mandibles twitched in what Shepard assumed was amusement, and her eyes crinkled slightly in response, "No, we have already selected our first target. In the Asteroid belt not far from here, there appears to be two destroyer class vessels and one carrier overlooking an element zero mining operation. We will disable all of the vessels and board to clear their crews."

Shepard's brow crinkled in a mixture of shock and surprise at the extremely fast selection. Picked up on the expression and nodded along with her words of affirmation, "Our people had been at war with the UNSC for many years, we became skilled at mining their data, and their virtual technology is far superior to what is in this world."

"You mean like that AI, Roland?" Liara interrupted as her somewhat intimidated expression finally gave way to her xeno-curiosity.

"Yes, Human-" She paused again and clicked her mandibles in frustration, "-UNSC; AI technology is very advanced."

"So who are we attacking?" Vega asked.

"These ones are Aria's forces," Mahkee said without the briefest hint of trepidation of concern about the chosen target in stark contrast to the grimace that crossed each of the native species faces.

Shepard glanced to his squad to confirm that they felt the same as him and even to Joker who was chuckling ironically to himself under his breath, then back to the Sangheili. "Are you sure it's wise that we start with Aria's own forces? Isn't that going to be a bit too antagonistic?"

"No," She said flatly. "We are sending a message as well, that this operation will take on anyone, and it will spread the blame to other parties more easily."

"Okay," Shepard said with a suppressed sigh at the knowledge of the can of worms he was about the become embroiled in. "We're ready to get underway."

"Good, we will transmit the coordinates to your pilot," Mahkee dictated as she turned on her large booted feet and promptly marched back down the umbilical into her ship. The structure disconnecting behind her and folding back into the underside of her lich as she went with the Normandy's airlock hissing shut before the atmosphere could rush out.

"Well, she was dandy!" Joker peeked over his chair mirthfully. "She was a she, right? I couldn't tell with the whole two and a half meters of walking murder."

"Joker," Shepard started in a chiding tone, watching through the viewscreen as the Lich accelerated past them and Joker pulled the Normandy about to follow in its wake at sublight speeds. "She was only a little bit taller than two meters," He finished with a rare smirk.

Joker laughed openly over his chair at Shepard's coy joke as his right palm pressed into the throttle, keeping the Normandy accelerating just in the Lich's wake away from Omega and toward the far side of the asteroid belt that it was a part of. "Gotta say though, they build quick ships! You say that she was a frigate?" Joker asked, peering forward.

Shepard, Liara and Kaidan all grouped around Jokers chair to observe the ship that was steadily leaving the Normandy in its wake. "No, according to Hackett, they described it as a light attack craft."

Joker laughed, "Hear that EDI, their light attack craft are half the size of the Normandy."

"Jeff, we already know that the UNSC and Covenant ships have larger tonnage than the ships of our galaxy," EDI replied matter of factly.

Joker gave his console a silent deadpan look before shaking his head, "Looking at a roughly five-minute ETA, Shepard. You might want to get suited up, I'm assuming that the alien monster has a plan to disable the ships."

Shepard patted Joker on the shoulder as he spun around to head down the gantry toward the elevator, Liara and Kaidan ahead of him, and Vega already waiting ahead. The elevator opened as they drew near and they all boarded, Shepard keyed the hanger as the doors closed.

"So what is the plan…?" Kaidan asked uncertainly as they descended the decks.

Shepard kept his face straight despite the same question raging through his mind, and in the face of Mahkee's practically resolute attitude, the question hadn't even occurred to him until now. "We'll use the Kodiak to board the first ship as soon as we're prompted by Mahkee, the aim will be to subdue the crew of the ship to capture it."

"Shepard, what do you mean by 'subdue' it?" Liara asked carefully.

"He means that we have to wipe them out. We're preparing for war, Liara," Vega butted in gruffly.

"Desperate times…" Kaidan trailed as the doors opened and the three quickly made their way to the armour locker.

Shepard retrieved his normal N7 armour which had specifically been adapted for this mission. Extra plates had been grafted to the chest and shoulders for superior damage protection and it been sprayed jet black to erase all insignia and identifiable patterns.

He set his mouth in a grim line at the paint job that had been designed simply for secrecy, and then set himself to donning it on. As he finished strapping his greaves on he looked at his squad to see them in likewise jet black armour which had extra armour added to the upper body and thighs.

He gave them a nod of approval before placing his helmet over his head, "Vega, you're our pilot this time, we'll need you to stay on station."

"Got it, Commander," Vega answered, turning from the group first to head toward the Kodiak.

Shepard looked from Liara in her uncharacteristically bulky black Alliance issue armour that hid the feminine curves that her typical armour only ever accentuated more, to Kaidan in his regularly shaped armour, "We're not taking any chances that we don't need to. We're here to support Mahkee, so no hero business."

"You got it, Shepard," Kaidan agreed and followed after Vega who'd disappeared into the cockpit of the Kodiak.

"What in the goddess's name…" Liara sighed lowly. Her visor met Shepard's, "I never imagined we'd be doing espionage missions, Shepard."

Beneath his helmet, Shepard smiled sadly, but he nodded to convey his agreement, "Didn't expect to be the Shadow Broker either, though?"

She laughed shortly and nodded, "You are right. The Reapers have changed lots of things."

"Shepard! We're decelerating, and I'm reading an energy charge from the Lich, so I'd say it's time to get ready for this." Joker's voice sounded from overhead, prompting Shepard and Liara to jog into the Kodiak.

As soon as their boots hit the troop bay flooring, the door slid shut behind them, and the small ship rocked into motion. The forward wall fizzed into a giant screen, obviously from Vega deciding to show them what he saw from the cockpit as the Normandy's bay door opened. He accelerated out toward the Lich ahead of them that was swooping down toward the two almost Turian looking destroyers and the single dominant carrier holding position above a deep hole in a massive asteroid that could rival Omega.

The Normandy squad watched with bated breaths as a torrent of green energy burst from the front of the Lich and splashed across the first destroyer and into the second one. The beam halted, and they all leaned a little closer to the screen.

"It's some kind of EMP based plasma beam!" Joker called over the comms.

"Jeff is correct, it is an electromagnetic pulse weapon, likely designed to assault ground targets to disable large ground vehicles," EDI explained more carefully just as the beam raced across the cold vacuum of space again and impacted the carrier.

"Commander, the enemy vessels are temporarily disabled, we will be boarding the second nearest destroyer momentarily and deploying Unggoy to the larger vessel, I would advise that you board the closest one in the event of them being able to power back up sooner than expected," Mahkee advised over the radio.

"Noted, Mahkee," Shepard answered into the radio before looking at the still postures of his two squad mates and then rapping his knuckles on the cockpit door, "Hear that Vega?"

"Closest destroyer, Commander, I'm onto it," Vega called back dutifully.

Shepard, Liara and Kaidan all watched the camera feed expectantly as they raced toward the intended ship, the Sangheili Lich speeding by overhead and past the second three hundred meter class destroyer to the ground side eight hundred meter class carrier that had been holding position above the open cut asteroid mine.

The N7 shut his curiosity at wanting to see the aliens in close quarters action and kept his gaze on the forward airlock of the destroyer as they sped in for a rapid dock. He briefly wondered how the Sangheili would board their targets without the standardised docking procedural technology that all ships of his Milky Way had, but again shut the thought down and focused as James spoke over the radio.

"Opening hatch now, you'll have to handshake manually since they're disabled."

Shepard looked to Liara and Kaidan, Vega's advisement having answered his unsaid question about Mahkee and her troops gaining access to their targets. "Status?"

Each of them quickly frisked themselves and counted the thermal clips attached to their belts, "Armour sealed. Full ammo count." Liara answered first.

"Same here," Kaidan added just as the bay hissed as the atmosphere changed.

The three quickly directed their attention to the door just as it slid back to reveal the grey and white heavily armoured hull of the destroyer a dozen meters away. The three instantly identified the standard sized airlock door just aft of the cockpit. "Going EVA," Shepard announced before checking his footing and diving from the safe confines of the Kodiak into the void of space.

He floated through the emptiness for several bated moments before his magnetised boots contacted the destroyers outer hull and secure him in place. Shepard glanced back the way he'd come to see Liara and Kaidan several meters away and the Kodiak holding its position.

Beyond, slightly around the curve of the asteroid belt, he could make out of the glint of the Normandy holding station, "Joker, how're things looking?" Shepard asked into his helmet comms.

"Looking good, Commander, no other vessels in the area," The pilot replied dutifully.

"And the Sangheili's disruption weapon also appears to have shut down their communications, Shepard. I have not detected any ship to ship transmissions since their strike." EDI typically expanded on Joker's answer.

"Thanks, EDI," Shepard said just as Liara and Kaidan landed on either side of him. He quickly activated his omni tool and let its searching orange scan hit the door before his feet.

Almost instantly the structure hissed, and atmosphere exploded outward as it opened, minus the normal safety protocols that would proceed such a happening. Shepard's heart leapt in surprise, and his instinct kept him rooted in place as a flailing humanoid body came tumbling out, almost impacting him as it was ejected from the ship.

But the moment of madness halted almost as quickly as it started, and Shepard peeked his helmet over the lip of the outer airlock door to see an empty room beyond, with the inner airlock likewise wide open. He frowned at the result of their breach and stepped into the room with his Mattock rifle raised and his armour piercing mod engaged.

"There's got to be more than one of them…" Kaidan said lowly, following right behind Shepard.

"Agreed," Shepard answered as he lowered his rifle and peeked his head around the inner airlock door to see that the entry lead onto a gangway with a closed door on both the left and the right.

"I'm closing the airlock," Liara spoke, and with a wave had their entry point sealed off again. Clearly trusting the integrity of the door, she spun and stepped forward to look around the corner with Shepard. "Ahh, my experience as the Shadow Broker actually has me quite informed here."

"Liara?" Shepard questioned without moving.

"Piracy is common in the Terminus, Shepard. And even though Aria's ships are rarely targeted, even she takes precautions against being raided. A common anti-piracy design is to have all entry points have double airlocks which auto shut, on the event of any power fluctuations," Liara said with a nod of her head to both the doors along the gangway.

"Cockpit first," Shepard said by way of answering, once more shouldering his weapon and turning left. He reached out to the door control mechanism, and it opened without issue, revealing a single human pilot with his hands already up in surrender.

"I ain't no threat!"

Shepard frowned at the instant surrender and clenched his jaw. This wasn't the kind of mission that could take prisoners or hostages, they didn't have either the time or luxury for it. He pointed the muzzle at the man's chest before he felt Kaidan's hand fall onto his shoulder as he spoke over their helmet to helmet frequency.

"Shepard! What are you doing?"

"Kaidan, you do know what this mission is, right?" Shepard quickly fired back angrily.

Liara mimicked Shepard's movement with her Paladin pistol, but unlike Shepard, didn't hesitate as she pulled the trigger in two quick squeezes, sending two rounds punching through the surrendered man's chest and dropping him to the floor in a spray of blood.

"This is a black operation, Kaidan, there can't be survivors," She explained coldly for Shepard as she took a step forward and loomed over the dying man.

He feebly reached up toward her, his dark brown eyes a mixture of hate and desperation, "Do you even know whose ships these are?" He gurgled as blood oozed from his lips.

"Yes, we do," Liara replied as she squeezed the trigger once more and ended his life.

Within his helmet, Shepard kept his grim expression to himself at Liara's ability to be coldly lethal. It was something that he'd only ever seen in their hunt for the Shadow Broker, and it wasn't something he thought he'd ever get used to seeing. But he kept his external posture schooled and nodded his head to Kaidan, "This is keeping war from breaking out."

Kaidan's moment of completely open body language told Shepard and Liara that he was clearly disturbed by what they were doing, but he shook his head to the floor and clicked his rifle into armour piercing mode as well before looking into Shepard's visor, "Understood, Commander."

Shepard nodded once before continuing the way they'd come back to the gangway door that they'd neglected upon entering. He heard his squadmates halt behind him, and palmed the door controls. It hissed open, and they were greeted by three fully armoured Krogans.

A split second before the battle ready criminals could bring their weapons to bear on Shepard, a singularity appeared in their midst and the sound of Liara's Paladin firing informed Shepard of his partner's ability to get the job done. He fired a moment later bringing the barriers of their would be assailants down within seconds and painting the floor around them with blood as Kaidan finally added his fire to the mix.

Before the last Krogan had fallen, Shepard rose and broke into a sprint over their bodies. He fired as he went, catching the fleeing Batarian's in their backs, "Don't let them regroup!" Shepard growled into his radio.

Liara and Kaidan quickly fell into step beside him in his charge down the gangway and into the command room, they halted as they entered at the sight of a dozen fully armed Humans and Batarian's. Their pause only lasted an instant, however, as Shepard was the first to begin firing again, taking the Batarian directly ahead of them down with a shot to his forehead.

Liara opened up next just as their enemy opened up and filled the air with tracer rounds. "Singularity!" Liara called in warning to her comrades as she sent the biotic pulse into the troops that flanked them to their left and four of them were yanked from their feet and were sent slamming into the wall behind them.

Kaidan sent his own bolt of biotic power into a Human who was closing in on him from their right, the man was thrown into a console with enough force to break the steel structure and tear his right leg off. The man wasn't given a chance to scream in pain as Kaidan rushed forward with his Avenger firing into his chest.

Shepard followed after his second in command, sending a cluster of shots into the face of another Batarian and dropping the alien to the floor minus the top of his cranium. He smoothly redirected his aim at the remaining five Batarians who were making to back away to a doorway at the end of the command deck.

Pre-empting their next attempt to regroup Shepard snatched a concussion grenade from his belt and lobbed at toward them. It detonated on impact and sent the Normandy crews' ears ringing, but left them otherwise unharmed, unlike the Batarians who were on the hands and knees clutching their heads in pain.

This time all three of them fired in concert and made short work of the remaining foes before a strange silence settled around them. The silence was broken by the sound of whirring machinery and the light shifting from the standard red emergency light to the much more comfortable bright white.

"Liara, can you access their crew logs? How many are we up against?"

The disguised Asari rushed over to the most central console and tapped a string of buttons, "The other two ships are back online as well, but I'm not receiving any signals…" She shook her head as she typed a command in and then started clicked through several different screens. "Could be another twenty Vorcha in the subdecks, from the look of it, but I think we just dealt with all the command crew."

"Vega, sitrep?"

The marine in question instantly answered over the team frequency, "Lights just came back on all the ships. Mahkee's ship must have made a real quick drop off on the carrier before she boarded the other destroyer. All of 'em have the lights back on, but no other movement."

"Good, inform Mahkee that we've secured the bridge of this ship and we're moving on to clear remaining hostiles," Shepard ordered over the radio.

Liara was the first to preempt him and raised her pistol toward the door that the Batarian's had been attempting to escape through, she marched forward and palmed the button to open it up, Shepard and Kaidan moving to flank her as she did.

It hissed open, and they were met with an empty elevator, they piled in and keyed the second deck. The capsule rocked into motion and seconds later it was opening again to an enraged looking Vorcha right in the doorway.

Shepard fired a point-blank round into its chest and charged over its body into an armoury with the remaining Vorcha within. He fired several more rounds off before rolling into cover behind a sealed crate. He poked his rifle around the edge of it and fired off several more blind shots before collecting his remaining concussion grenade from his belt and tossing it to where he thought the Vorcha were.

The loud thud and ring in the air announced its detonation, and he pounced up, already seeing his two teammates shooting into the midst of their foes, dropping several in the process just as his teammates were.

"Going to be a lot less criminals in the galaxy when the Reapers arrive," Shepard sighed as the last Vorcha fell and he walked forward to check for signs of life.

"And a lot more war criminals," Kaidan added in a blank tone.

Both Shepard and Liara halted in their tracks and turned to regard the biotic marine. Shepard was sure that if they were free of their armour that Liara would have slapped or punched him for the snidely said naive remark. Shepard likewise wanted to come down hard on his second, but he was resigned to the attitude that Kaidan had allowed to evolve ever since he had first been posted to the Normandy SR-1.

Shepard shook his head to free it of the frustrating cyclone of thoughts, questions, and judgements that Kaidan often instigated. He had no idea how Kaidan got by in the Alliance with his clean-cut attitude about life when it was the Alliance that had birthed Cerberus. And that the Alliance – like many other governments and militaries throughout the galaxy – involved themselves in a number of reprehensible acts to maintain the peace, what happened in the shadows stayed in the shadows.

Finding the thoughts still whirling around his mind, Shepard tapped his omni tool and spoke into it again, "Vega, I think we're done here, what's Mahkee's plan for moving the ships?"

"Patching her through, Commander," James said.

"Commander, you have cleared the vessel you assaulted?"

"Yes, the vessel is clear of hostiles," He answered. "How are we moving them?"

"I have been supplied with several AI fragments to load into the ships mainframes to move them, I have just loaded one into this destroyer, and the Unggoy should be doing the same soon. Your dropship can ferry us to your ship so that we can do there same there." Mahkee explained firmly.

"Understood," Shepard tapped his omni tool again, "Vega, you get that?"

"Aye, aye, heading there now."

Shepard looked back to his squad and motioned the way they'd entered from, "Let's get back to the command deck, Mahkee will be here soon."

 **X Twenty minutes earlier – Lich troop bay X**

"We have been entrusted to fight as one, to be the right hand of the UNSC!"

Flipyap outwardly did his best to remain at stiff attention. Mahkee paced in front of him and his ten nipple-brothers; the group of Unggoy who otherwise had no familial connection, but had bonded over their communal feeding milk-tube which their new UNSC wards had designed to reflect on the Unggoys' spoken of ancient culture of feeding in groups.

He, like his brothers assembled behind him in full Sangheili designed special ops Unggoy armour, remained perfectly still, despite his wandering thoughts.

"We are to be the right hand of our new empire with the UNSC, to work in the shadows where needed until we can stand tall in the light with them!" Mahkee continued her speech to the squat Unggoy.

Flipyap was considered old for an Unggoy at the ripe old age of forty-five. The Unggoy had the natural life-span of one hundred and fifty human years, but thanks to their service within the Covenant, and hundreds of years before that, their self-destruction by way of over industrialisation on Balaho, they very rarely ever even reached a fraction of their natural lifespan.

Flipyap's eyes tracked Mahkee as she centred herself before him and pulled her posture up stiff. He'd heard variations of her speech time and time again under the Covenant, and he knew that she was personally glad to be free of the Covenant, so he deduced that it was clearly in the Sangheili's nature to seek grandeur and belong to a movement. He supposed that was why the Arbiter's had originally been made.

He suppressed the slight surge of fear and anger as he found her eyes locked onto him, despite knowing that she couldn't actually see his eyes through the helmet. Him and his nipple-brothers being here was far from his plan, and it was his first failure that put his life at risk since his joining of the Covenant the year before the beginning of the war against Humanity.

Flipyap had always known that he, apart from all of his people, was special. That he naturally had a more cunning and clever mind than his beloved brothers and sisters – The majority of them, at least. And even with his love for being in the communal groups that his kind naturally drew to, he sought to maintain individuality and learn under the Sangheili.

For years through the start of the war he had become fluent in several Human languages, he'd become somewhat skilled at monitoring UNSC signals, and had even learnt a level of their virtual coding and networking. He'd made himself into an invaluable Unggoy, one who wouldn't be put at risk on the frontlines as a grunt.

And the only times he'd ever entered into a war zone had been after his clansmen had thrown themselves in suicidal waves against the UNSC, along with the more newly included barbaric Jiralhanae. He'd been ferried to the results of the war zone with whichever Elite Commander he served under at the time to seek out Human secrets hidden within any surviving computers of even handwritten messages.

Of course, studying their human enemies had only been another thing that Flipyap learnt from. Their vowed enemies were not the blasphemous monstrosities that the Prophets would have them believe. The more he listened to human voices speaking in various languages, to their culture and their passion for survival, the more he admired them as a people.

In many ways they were similar to his own people; that thought at the time had made him reconsider, and he realised that humanity was like a mixture of each race of the Covenant. They were like each the San'Shyuum, the Sangheili, the Kig-yar, the Huragok, and the Unggoy, and yet in every way that really counted, they weren't.

He never thought far into it, but he knew that the end to the war with the humans wouldn't be conventional, and there was the possibility that they might even survive. So Flipyap lied to his superiors, all of whom were too haughty to learn the human languages to question him as he sifted through computer systems and paper documents.

He did what he could to keep human secrets that could protect their worlds or fleets from the Sangheili and San'Shyuum for the entire duration of the war. And now the very people he'd so tirelessly worked to protect had by way of accidental presence alone had fated him to the role he'd always worked so hard to avoid: Combat.

Flipyap had ended up on Sangheilios at the close of the war, and had led a hundred of his kind in seeking out the Arbiter to request to join him, and then championing rights for his people to be treated as equal. It had been the biggest personal risk he'd ever taken, but Flipyap had discovered that Thel Vadam, beyond being a skilled warrior and leader, was also a natural diplomat.

The Sangheili leader hadn't needed to be persuaded at all and apparently wanted to see equality amongst the allied races. Then the war had continued until finally one of the Humans AI's turned on them and attacked everyone with Forerunner machines. He'd escaped from Sanghelios to the UNSC Infinity as the ship made a stop to collect several important human individuals still on the planet.

In many ways, it had been the perfect scenario for Flipyap. It was a bridge to the people he'd so long admired, and it only got better as they escaped to a whole new galaxy and found a Forerunner world that would give them a home for aeons. So he followed his natural habit and magnetised himself to the most celebrated humans present by taking manual labour jobs that would put him near them.

Of course, he'd heard of the Master Chief, the man formerly called Demon. So getting to interact with the Spartan soldiers who had surrounded him as a new squad was Flipyap's goal. But it had drawn the only conceivable unwanted eye as the Master Chief tasked Mahkee with a special mission, and she, being a well-known and extremely progressive Sangheili, had seen him and his nipple-brothers doing their best to impress the Spartans, and as such had been chosen to join the mission.

"Flipyap, your kind are my kind, your service is my service. Our alliance will serve our future," Mahkee drew Flipyap from his thoughts, and he nodded once in agreement.

He truly did agree with her, this was where her speech truly diverged from the Covenants version, in that the new Sangheili truly did seem to care about the wellness of the Unggoy.

"You and your brothers are to be swift and deadly, you are to work as one and wipe out the enemy. Do you understand?" Mahkee asked, stooping to his level.

Flipyap stood statue still, "I understand, Commander Mahkee! The carrier vessel will be secured!"

"We draw near, Commander!" Another deep Sangheili voice announced over the ship's intercom.

The Unggoy all uniformly moved to the outer margins of the troop bay with practised ease, as the gravity lift portal in the middle of the room opened. Flipyap threw one of the human salutes that he admired so much to Mahkee and hefted the silenced UNSC submachine gun from his hip before spinning and jogging to the gravity lift portal.

"For Balaho!" He called just as he jumped into it and fell directly into the open airlock below, his orientation shifting as he landed.

His cry had inspired his clansmen who were fast to jump in after him and quickly assembled to breach the inner airlock.

Flipyap turned to see the gravity lift already having been disengaged and the Lich pulling away toward one of the other destroyers visible far above.

"Degat, place a barrier in the open airlock!"

One of the Unggoy dashed forward with four purple fist-sized devices, he placed two in the lower corners of the burnt off outer airlock and threw the remaining two at the out of reach upper corners. He tapped a button on his forearm, and the space was instantly clocked by a shining blue energy shield.

Flipyap nodded his approval and looked back to the inner airlock door. "Yaylep, can you open that door?"

The Unggoy at the door control nodded, "Yes Major!"

The door whooshed open, and gunshots immediately filled the air. Three of the Unggoy occupying the doorway were riddled with automatic fire, but Flipyap and the rest of the squad were fast to respond. The SMG chattered from his grip as he fired on the large bulky alien who took up most of the gangway beyond, leaving the three other aliens to his squad.

The rounds pinged off the creature's shield, and armour as the other smaller more man-sized aliens with their strange four dark eyes fell under combined plasma rifle fire. The larger one who Flipyap was firing on seemed to take that as a need to retreat, and turned on the spot and made to charge away.

Flipyap knew the dangers of an enemy being able to regroup, and he sprinted after it, retrieving a plasma grenade from his belt as he did so. He primed the charge and threw it with all of his might at the retreating enemy.

It stuck to the back of its leg, and a moment later it exploded, sending it crashing into the ceiling above with a roar of pain, minus its legs.

Flipyap hurried forward, his unit in his wake, until he loomed over the downed creature, roaring at him through its amphibian-like lips in rage and pain. Flipyap didn't let his eyes linger on the destroyed lower body of his enemy as he brought his SMG to bear on the aliens face and unloaded the remaining bullets into it, turning it into mince.

Flipyap grunted his disproval of having to be engaged in battle but did ultimately recognise him really being a perfect leader for a small troop of Unggoy. He raised his left forearm and tapped a button, and a small orange holographic image sprung up, "Orange man," He greeted the hologram in a typical simplified Unggoy fashion.

"Yes, Flipyap?" The hologram asked curtly back.

"Do you know where the ship's controls would be?" He consulted the AI fragment he'd been issued by Mahkee a day earlier.

Roland stroked his chin in thought and nodded slowly, "These ships all seem to have a cockpit separate from a command centre. I would suggest checking to the left of your entry point first."

Flipyap nodded once to the hologram and tapped it off. He ejected the spent magazine and slapped a new one on, "Yaylep, Degat, Rekeb, you three stay here and cover this spot, the rest of you, follow me!"

The Unggoy chattered in excitement beneath their helmets at one of their own leading them so proficiently as they all carried out his order far more efficiently than if he were a Sangheili. Flipyap smiled beneath his helmet at the happening and adjusted his idea of being on the battlefield if it meant seeing the best from his people.

He stored the idea for later and jogged back past the airlock and toward the closed door ahead. One of his small troops, sensing the impending order, rushed forward to the door controls. He looked back and saw Flipyap and his two other brothers with their weapons raised and ready. He jabbed the control, and the door slid open.

Once more, the air was filled with bullets. Flipyap rushed forward into the cockpit to draw the fire, the rounds pinging from his shields to protect his squad who weren't granted the superior armour technology that he as a squad leader had been given. A moment of panic struck him as he saw his shield counter quickly drop by more than half, and he fired wildly in defence.

He heard a grunt of pain and the familiar whirl of plasma fired behind him, and then nothing besides ragged breathing and shuffling boots. Flipyap glanced back, and saw that his three nipple-brothers were still alive and unharmed, and then sought out the sound of the rapid and pained breathing.

A human man lay sprawled around the base of one of two pilot's chairs that faced onto the glass canopy keeping the vacuum of space at bay. He clutched at a bleeding wound in his gut and groaned in pain, his weapon lay discarded beside him to free up his hands in their attempt to stem the blood flow.

Flipyap looked to the other dead human pilot sprawled across the control station, the red blood, flesh, and bone fragments splattered onto the glass view screen told Flipyap that it was likely his wild shot that took the enemies life.

"What the hell are you things?" The wounded man wheezed.

Flipyap's mind flashed to Mahkee debriefing him, he very clearly recalled her describing this galaxy that they found themselves in and the strange political structure that dominated it, and that the nature of their mission was to keep one war at bay so that the true war could be faced with strength.

He aimed his SMG at the humans' chest and fired two shots. The man's body stilled, and Flipyap hopped forward and leaned over the flight controls, drawing the small hologram of Roland out again. "Orange man, can we control ship from here?"

The AI seemed to scan the console before nodded, "Insert my chip there," he said, pointing at a data entry port.

Flipyap did as told, and a moment later Roland's voice came from the console, "We have control. There are still over fifty other life signs onboard though, Major Flipyap."

Flipyap nodded, he'd figured that would be the case. He raised his forearm and spoke into the device around his thick wrist, "Brothers! Join me in their cockpit."

A few moments later and the remaining six Unggoy surrounded Flipyap eagerly. "Orange man, seal off the cockpit and vent the ship's atmosphere."

The AI noticeably smirked at the order, but the door behind them shut, and a series of flashing red lights lit up across the control console.

"Venting atmosphere, life signs decreasing."

"Flipyap the brave!" Yaylep chanted in victory, the others quickly joining the chant.

 **March 20 – Tuchanka.  
**

Almost a month had passed since the official disbanding of the Citadel Council, and the success of John's plan had been wearing on his and Lasky's nerves, not to mention on the nerves of their Alliance allies who were involved in the joint operation.

John read the report on the screen in his hand again from his standing position just aft of the navigation officers chair, the man in question dutifully guiding the Strident through the upper atmosphere of Tuchanka toward the Urdnot clan grounds that had been selected as the meeting point by Urdnot Wrex.

John's finger swiped across the screen several times, and he drew up the very first mission report from Shepard about the successful raid of Aria T'loak's military mining operation. The mission had gone down with only three Unggoy losses and a near-perfect capture of the three vessels and using fragments of Roland, they had piloted the ships to a system devoid of anything interesting just shy of the Turian's border.

The mission had instantly drawn the attention of Aria. Apparently, the mining operation had been one of Omega's most important Eezo mines. And as such, her patrols had ramped up all around Omega. She hadn't known it, but this played perfectly into Mahkee's plans and over the next two weeks eight more successful raids specifically against Aria's ships followed.

Shepard and Mahkee had successfully captured well over a dozen warships, and on March the first when the Council was officially disbanded, Liara –Shepards Asari partner- had traded the ships to the Turian Hierarchy under her alternative role as the Shadow Broker under the stipulation that the Turian Hierarchy delay any warring actions.

The effects had been two-fold, and John and Lasky had been uneasy in agreeing that the black op was yielding good results for the war that was approaching. It was made apparent that Aria had moles within the Turian Hierarchy, and the stolen ships, which had been refitted, had been identified, and Aria had been informed. What had followed had been a bloody campaign across the Terminus systems by Aria as she slaughtered the leadership of all the prominent mercenary groups and shackled them to her authority, and then used them to invade a range of the Attican Traverse systems to raid ships and replenish her fleet.

This had flowed onto a collection of independent worlds within the Attican Traverse signing a unified government treaty and forming the Attican Alliance and forming a unified military force. But surprisingly, rather than waste her forces against the Attican Alliance, as Shepard and Hackett had said would be most likely, Aria had left the newly formed government alone and redirected all of her forces to her border with Turian controlled space, and a range of small conflicts had begun.

Six days earlier, John and his Spartan Sword Team had joined the full complement of the twelve Lich's recovered from Sangheilios, and their Sangheili crew, and joined up with Shepard and the Normandy in ambushing a small fleet of Aria's ships and liberating the hardware from her control.

John hadn't spoken in person with Shepard since they'd last seen each other on Mars, but he could see that the mission was clearly honing Shepard's soldiering skill and that of his team. But after that final successful engagement, Shepard and Mahkee's successes had become isolated to singular patrol ships as Aria tripled fleet allotments.

"John?"

He looked up from the report he was rereading and stepped away from the navigation officer and returned to the holo table in two short strides to where Sarah, equally de-helmeted, was regarding him.

"The Pelican is ready to go, it's loaded with the gear."

John nodded and tapped the holo-table, waking it up and bringing the three-dimensional map of their landing zone back into focus. "Nav, you're clear on the landing location?"

"Yes, Sir," He called without shifting in his chair as he deftly controlled the Strident through the thick and polluted looking clouds.

"Okay, Sarah, let's get down there."

Her lips pressed into a small smile, and she picked his helmet up off the table, tossing it to him before retrieving her own and turning to the door. John followed her through it and along the gangways on their way to the hanger. "You read the Alliance reports on the Krogan?"

Sarah's as usual perfectly neat sable blonde hair bobbed ahead of him as she nodded, "Shepard's and Anderson's interactions with the Krogan inform a lot. Their history is a little bit like the Jiralhanae."

John nodded; he had likewise read up on the race and had been informed first hand by Grunt in his time on Erda with the growing UNSC colony. "So what do you think of this?"

Sarah stepped through the double loading size doors that lead into the hanger and regarded him for a moment, "I think they'll be good allies, and I think what the Salarian said about them was true."

"Mordin?"

"Yeah, him," Sarah agreed. "The Salarians ruined their natural social evolution, and now it's taken them this long to pull together. I think they all want to unite under a banner."

John pursed his lips together in thought. He'd spoken with Grunt plenty, and read about Urdnot Wrex extensively, along with the entirety of the Krogan history, and he'd tried his best to understand the motivations of the Krogan he'd encountered aboard Aria's fleet.

"Hopefully they don't turn out too much like the Jiralhanae."

Sarah let out of a chortle of ironic laughter before resuming her march, this time veering toward one of six Pelicans, each of them tethered to a massive machine which was folded in on itself.

They rounded the machine and saw Buck and Olympia sitting on the edge of the nearest Pelicans troop bay with Legion seated near the cockpit door stooped over a holographic emitter with Roland active on it. The sight reminded John that their next task of vital importance was to reach out to the Quarian's and Geth.

Since he'd taken Strident One as his personal command, he'd had a team of technicians assist Roland and Legion in constructing a specialised long-range transmitter that could communicate with Geth space. Legion had been singular in delivering on what had been his approximation of a promise regarding changing however necessary to work with his organic allies better.

Day in and day out, Legion and Roland communed virtually, to the result of Legion evolving until he'd started using the singular in reference to himself. It was apparent that the transmitter was being used just as heavily to transmit the code updates all the way to the Geth's and Quarian's joint homeworld.

John didn't know specifically what to make of it, but the thought brought Tali back to his mind, and he found himself missing her. The comfort and empathy that she'd offered him when he was a new and lost element in this galaxy had touched him, and the feeling of endearment had only amplified when he'd alluded to the fact that he could see her face, and her heart had danced through her luminescent eyes at the knowledge.

"Ready for drop?" John asked no one in particular as he and Sarah stopped several meters from Buck and Olympia.

"You bet!" A voice called from the now open cockpit, "Just waiting on the word from the bridge."

"Pile in, everyone," John advised, stepping past the two seated Spartans and placing himself next to the still inactive Legion. The Spartans followed the order and sat across from him just as they felt the inertia in the ship change and a slight chatter from the cockpit.

"Good timing Chief! Lift off in three, two, one," The pilot finished counting down, and the light around them changed from the artificial bright white of the ships hanger to a more yellow dirty light of Tuchanka's air.

John stood and moved to the rear of the troop bay, looking under the massive machinery that was slung under the vehicle bay to what little he could see of the ravaged ground below.

"Hell of a shit hole down there, Sir!" The pilot called with a dry laugh "ETA to nominated Shroud facility two minutes.'

John didn't respond, he just stayed steady watching the ground zip by beneath them until they started to slow and miles of broken structures turned into a relatively clear section of road. The ground came up to meet them and the Pelican's landing gear deployed.

John jumped down into the dusty red soil and marched around the landing gear to see a dozen black Kodiak dropships landed a dozen or so meters from the front of the Pelicans uniformly landed formation. As he drew closer the doors to the Kodiaks opened, and their compliment of Krogan emerged.

John squinted through the dirty air, hating that he was keeping his helmet removed to play diplomat. "Urdnot Wrex!" He called to the group.

One of the Krogan, noticeably larger than the others stepped forward, and John took the diplomatic action of walking further himself to meet the approaching alien. John looked over the creatures hump as another started moving forward, and he noticed the familiar armour and features of Grunt.

"Never seen a Human as big as you before" The Krogan rumbled mirthfully.

John simply offered his right hand in a shake and placed a small but polite smile on his lips to initiate peaceful first contact with the clan leader. Their hands met, and they shook, "Urdnot Wrex, I've been told you're a good leader."

Wrex grinned and glanced over his shoulder at Grunt and the other assembled warriors, "Heh heh, and I've heard that you're a dangerous warrior, so what will come of this?" He laughed out.

John heard the genuine question hidden within the bravado and nodded to the Pelicans, "We want the Krogan in our new Alliance. You know that the Reapers are coming. And not because we want you to help fight, but because we want a future with your people in this galaxy, we want to help rebuild your world, fix the atmosphere, cure the genophage."

Wrex's eyes immediately widened in surprise at the bluntness of John's candour, "And you're willing to do all of that, just to be friends? No one has ever done anything good for our people before, why should I believe you?"

"No one did anything good for my people either, but here we are offering something good. We brought the first terraforming module with us to begin immediately." John answered matter-of-factly

"The big thing that your ships are hauling?" Wrex asked.

John nodded once and a moment of silence followed.

Wrex reached forward again and snatched Johns hand in a rough shake, "Heh heh, never had such an easy conversation with an alien before! You'll have good friends in the Krogan."

John once again returned the shake with a smile, "Easier than I thought it would be," He agreed before turning to look toward the Pelican's and the three other Spartan's who'd emerged along with the dozen armoured technicians who'd been riding in one of the other Pelicans. "The UNSC Infinity will be here in a couple of days to deploy a research station where we can begin work on curing the genophage and fixing Tuchanka's biosphere."

"Need any help squashing Turians?" Wrex asked with a smirk and a glint in his eye that told John that the old Krogan was more informed than he appeared.

"No, our current mission is to prevent war to focus on the Reapers, we'll be bolstering your military capabilities," The towering Spartan said firmly.

Wrex's smirk changed to a wry smile as he turned his head from the Spartan to regard the sun that was struggling to break through the dirty and polluted clouds. "It will be good to have clear sky's on Tuchanka at last."

John glanced down at the Krogan to observe the look of endearment that he was giving his broken homeworld. He was silently jealous of the fact, but he kept his features school and looked back to Buck who was casually striding forward.

"Tech's are saying that they can be set up and functioning in twenty, reckon it's time for a drink?"

"Shepard had trouble handling his Ryncol, let's see how you go with it," Wrex said, the mirth returning to his voice as he motioned for his Krogan guard to approach.

"Nothing says making friends like drinking together, eh?" Buck said with a laugh, halting half a meter back from the clan leader.

"Exactly, Human," Wrex said, "Drinking together in celebration is a time honoured tradition."

 **March 25 – Citadel.  
**

Garrus would have normally been calmed by the gentle lapping of the Presidium waters to his right and the gentle tones of music that permeated the air of the Human-Turian co-owned café that he was sitting in. But his avian eyes were glued to the artificial sky above with the knowledge that the UNSC Infinity was just above it, exerting its power and weight onto the people of the Citadel with its sheer size and image.

The ship still unnerved him, almost as much as the knowledge of the solar system sized metal planet now within UNSC control, or the reports from their network he'd read about their engagements with the Covenant and Forerunner vessels. The military scale of their home-galaxy made Garrus feel small and powerless.

He shook his head slightly at the thought; a race of humans who'd been subject to an alien war of such vast scale that they'd grown into giants themselves to survive and win. He wondered if there were Turian's somewhere in their native galaxy, and what they could be like.

He'd even posited the idea to Captain Lasky is one of their discussions. Lasky and Roland had both taken the idea very seriously, describing that known space back in their galaxy only covered the Orion Spur and that the location of their Earth was the same as this galaxy's Earth, saying that it was indeed very possible that Palaven was similarly placed.

"Ahh, Garrus," The unmistakable pensive voice of Thane drew Garrus from staring upwards, "It is good to see you again, my friend."

Garrus turned in his seat to face Thane properly and gave him a smile by way of greeting as the Drell seated himself with a low cough.

"You too, Thane," Garrus agreed back, "Things sure have changed?"

Thane laughed lowly, which turned into another cough, "That would be something of an understatement. There's a fleet of Salarian destroyers out there!" He said, motioning to the fake sky.

"Not to mention a Human dreadnought a third the size of the Citadel?" Garrus asked back with a small laugh.

Thane narrowed his eyes in thought, "The UNSC ships are indeed frightening and stunning in scale, but it's the Salarian which presence says more."

The crests above Garrus's eyes pushed down in his version of a confused expression, prompting Thane to go on.

"Yes, the UNSC is a shocking new inclusion to the galaxy, but you could say that they were just the primer for change. How often did the Salarians ever really involve themselves in things? Their military might not have the might of the Turians, but their technology far outstrips them, and their knowledge does too. I have read the news reports about the change of patrolled territory with the new allied species, they have rostered fleets of each species together to patrol all allied space."

The crests over Garrus's eyes stayed where they were, "So?"

"This is complete cooperation, unlike even what the Citadel Council achieved. There are human ships over Thessia, there are Asari ships over Earth," Thane said, his eyes wide in his amazement.

"And there are Turian ships of Palaven," Garrus said with a mirthless laugh. His eyes met Thanes, and his ironic smile dropped, "So you're saying that it's been the Turians preventing peaceful alliances all this time?"

"No," Thane instantly responded with a frown, "Well, not exactly. You must admit that it creates friction, the fact that the Turians are the only species in the galaxy whose military is their government, and who take it upon themselves to distribute galactic justice to other species, whether they were members of the Citadel or not."

Garrus frowned and cast his eyes downward at the tabletop in guilty admission for his people. He didn't want to defend his kind against the objective truths of their history of -or even their current- actions. He was here on the Citadel because he feared what the Turian Hierarchy would do to themselves, and his people.

He had arrived the day before the Council was officially announced disbanded and his first action had been to contact his family on Palaven and implore them to leave the homeworld. Of course, his father had done exactly what he'd expected; he'd explained that he believed his son and that he also saw the wrongdoings of their people, but that he would stay the course and try and argue reason to anyone in the Hierarchy who would listen.

But against all the odds, his younger sister, Solana, who had always pushed to be opposite to Garrus in order to be the ideal Turian, had heeded his message and had just arrived on the Citadel and applied for C-Sec. Garrus felt a wave of relief rush through him again at the thought as his out of focus gaze drifted to one of the many nearby occupied tables; the one his eyes settled on had the only other Turians in the area present.

Thane caught the direction of the gaze and followed it, "Ahh, not many Turians left on the Citadel, I am sure it must feel strange for you?"

"That's a way of putting it…" Garrus said. He looked from the table of three Turians to the dozen other tables, all occupied by small groups of Asari, Salarians and Humans with a surprising amount of Quarians mixed in. "C-Sec has kept a roster of all Turians left on the station, everyone, even C-Sec officers are under light surveillance."

"That sounds like a very Turian precaution," Thane said with narrowed eyes.

Garrus scoffed to himself and nodded, "Yeah Captain Haron is in charge of C-Sec now, it was Bailey's idea so that any Turians who stayed didn't feel marginalised. Apparently, Humans have a history of knowing those issues."

"But they're a first for yours," Thane cut in with a severe tone. "The Turians have marginalised every species in the galaxy besides the Salarians and Asari, even the Humans."

Garrus adopted a grim expression again and nodded, "That's why I stayed, there have to be some Turians on the right side of history. I know you're thinking it, but I am loyal to the UNSC's alliance with the races, and with all the issues with the Hierarchy it's easy to forget that the grim reality is that we're preparing for the Reapers."

"So what will you do?" Thane said with his concern softening to simple curiosity.

"Solena and I had an idea… We want to form a squad, kind of like I had on Omega, of freelance soldiers and mercs who want to do the right thing," Garrus said; the crests above his eyes finally lifting and returning his expression to being something more comfortable.

Thane nodded and likewise let his face relax as he took in the sights around them. Each of the other tables in the café's alfresco space was occupied, with a majority of their occupants having hushed but heated discussions. Obviously as a reaction to either the death of their government and the rise of the board of private companies who had been elected to rule the Citadel or the now public warnings about imminent Reaper invasion and the emergency measures being taken.

His black eyes looked at the table of six Quarians, and he felt a wave of joy at the sight; they were all clearly comfortable, relaxed, and happy. Thane had watched their ship come into dock, and he had felt their sense of retribution and victory in stepping foot on the Citadel as people who would no longer be looked down on.

They saw him looking at them, and they each tilted their head to him in a somewhat awkward greeting, Thane mimicked the gesture with a small content smile and looked back to the nearest of the Presidium's lakes flowing peacefully.

"Shepard, the Master Chief, the new Alliance," Thane began, not breaking his gaze from the lakes as a group of human and Asari children all seemed to dare each other at once and jump into the water, screaming mirthfully as they did so. "We're going to beat the Reapers."


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm back!  
I wasn't abandoning the story and didn't even have writers block. Work took a crazy turn and I was busier than ever imagined. Then when I got used to the new work load and started trying to write again, I had a lot of trouble picking up the feeling of the story again. **

**So if anything in this chapter feels disjointed, that's why.**

 **As to this chapter; it is something of a filler chapter.**

 **Considering my work load and how much slower in updating I will be, I am considering including more timeskips and glossing over the filler'y stuff to progress the story more quickly to the vital points.  
Thoughts on that would be appreciated. : -)**

 **Hope everyone enjoys and Merry Christmas!**

 **Chapter Twelve  
.:: Quiet Before the Storm ::.**

 **April 1** **st** **\- Far Rim, Rannoch.  
**

****The otherwise calm empty vacuum of space rippled, like the surface of the pond being disturbed by rainfall, and a jet black hole rimmed by a whirlpool of swirling white vacuum energy spun open. The hole into the realm of Slipspace was only open for several seconds before the sharp design of a UNSC Strident slid back into real space, and the vortex snapped shut behind it.

The Strident came about, and its prow dipped into the very upper level of Rannoch's thermosphere above the Quarian and Geth fleet which sat nose to nose midway down the planetary halo of gases.

"Sir, successful Slipspace transition, moving to rendezvous with the Quarian fleet now," Ensign Haverson reported without looking from his display feed, seated to the left of the open space of the broad view screen.

"Comms, what have you got?" John asked Ensign Basset to Halverson's left.

"No weapon sigs from either the Quarian or Geth fleets, lots of activity dirtside though," The brunette ensign reported.

John glanced at Legion, standing just shy from the hardened glass ahead of him. The Geth seemed to sense the Spartans eyes on him and turned slightly, "Master Chief, it is good to be home. I can assure you that there will be no trouble here."

John pressed his lips into a thin smile, an expression more of thought than emotional response, and gave the advanced AI construct a nod of approval before looking to the Tactical station officer to Legions right, "Ensign Lovell, keep all missile pods shut and MAC capacitors offline."

"Aye, aye," The ensign called in affirmative.

"Signal coming through, Sir," Basset called in her well-annunciate Slavic accent.

"Put it through," He answered, and turned to regard Halsey seated in the Captain's chair with Sarah dutifully looming by the bridge door.

"UNSC vessel, this is Admiral Han'Gerrel of the heavy fleet," The typical looking male Quarian spoke from his depiction on a screen that emerged from the holographic tactics table that sat betwixt the Captain's chair and the empty point immediately aft of the view screen. "We have been expecting you for some time; it is good to meet the people who made all of this possible."

John made a subtle come-hither motion toward Legion and squared his shoulders within his armour to the holographic projection as it returned his image to the Quarians own bridge. "Admiral, I'm here to offer more assistance, and to return the Geth, Legion, to his people."

At this, Legion stepped into the frame and made a small bow to the Admiral, "Admiral Han'Gerrel, the Geth are thankful for this peaceful occurrence of your return to the homeworld."

"As are we, Legion," Han agreed with a barely visible smile showing through his heavily tinted faceplate. "We feared AI for so long after making the Geth, and it was AI who healed this wound. We would love to talk with your AI, Roland, at some point, Master Chief?"

John relaxed his expression into the most neutral smile possible, "We only have a fragment of him on-board, Admiral, but I'm sure Doctor Halsey would be interested in discussing AI with you."

At the prompting, she rose from the captain's chair and stepped up next to John, "Indeed, Admiral. I helped design the UNSC's modern generation of AI, I would be curious to learn about the creation of the Geth too."

"If I may, Admiral?" John asked to the hologram before the conversation could continue on too far along a casual path for his liking, "I would like to request a docking location for us to get underway?"

Han stroked the base of his faceplate in a very human-like habit that despite being suited, the Quarians had never been able to shake. "What does your offer of more assistance involve?"

John gestured to Halsey with a nod, "Since we seem to be here for the long haul, we want to make ourselves valuable to the galaxy… The UNSC and Quarians have a lot in common; we would like to offer our scientific expertise in gene therapy."

The Admiral froze as the words left John's mouth, and his eyes visibly widened beneath his mask, "You think you can improve our immune systems?"

"From what I am aware of regarding Quarian physiology and biology, and the meagre genetic information available within the codex, I do believe I can substantially improve the health of your people," Halsey answered with a proud smile and a confident steeliness in her eyes.

Han shook his head quickly, a clear action of amazement rather than denial. His eyes widened beneath his visor as his amazement washed by and he recalled his current conversation, "Admirals' Tali Zorah and Daro'Xen are heading up a research project in Tummel, the capital, down on the surface. I'll send you their waypoint and inform all local forces of your arrival."

"Thank you, Admiral," John replied politely and tapped the holographic display, turning it off.

"Waypoint received, Sir," Haverson reported, already plotting their trajectory through the atmosphere with the automated help of Roland's fragment.

"Take us down," John ordered, stepping forward to get the best view of the planet possible through the viewport.

The natural light shift from clear light to a more blue tone battled against the artificial lights within the bridge as the ship began to descend through the planetary halo that gave all habitable worlds a blue glow from space. They sped by the geosynchronous static Quarian and Geth fleets within seconds, and the light changed further again to a more familiar warm tinge typical of any planet with a healthy atmosphere and a local yellow star.

The clouds that had blocked their view of their destination from their quick decent were quickly left in the wake of the Strident as they swooped lower and lower toward the middle of the reaching continent which snaked its way from near the southern pole of the planet all the way to the northern pole.

A virtual overlay painted itself across the glass, circling a glistening silverpoint with their ETA of five minutes counting down next to it. The silver area grew larger and larger until they made out the reaching silver and white spires and arches. The far from abandoned looking city was dotted with areas of dense green, setting it apart from the otherwise arid terrain that surrounded it.

John looked to Legion with a question in his eyes, and Legion gave a pre-emptive nod back, "The Geth tended to all of the creations of the Makers in their absence."

"Why would you do that?" Halsey queried, having taken place next to the tactics table and studying a sensor mapped image of their destination.

"The Geth regretted the actions of the Makers, we still wished for the world they made us into," Legion answered coolly.

John gave a single nod of understanding and looked back to the city that they were now circling above, far from being the only vessel in the sky with a dozen Quarian destroyers positioned directly over the city proper and hundreds of Kodiak dropships buzzing through the air.

"Bringing us in to land now," Haverson reported, and Roland's fragment highlighted a section off to the northern point of the city on the edge of the grassy plains that skirted the entire northern half of the bastion of Quarian civilisation.

True to Haverson's words, the Strident descended the final kilometre toward a sprawling section of grey-white tarmac with several other Quarian vessels lined up near an array of new looking prefab buildings.

"Engaging gravity lift and stabilisers," Haverson spoke again with a flick of his wrist across his station, "And welcome to Rannoch, folks," He finished with a small smile as he looked up from his console to the warm light streaking in through the glass.

"Bridge crew, stay at your stations, inform the marines and science team that they'll be deploying with the landing party," John ordered toward Basset at the comms station.

She nodded without looking back at him and within moments her accented tones were coming from the bridge speakers, "Strident One Marine detachment and science teams, you are to report to the gravity lift to disembark with the preordained landing party."

John hefted his helmet off the edge of the holographic table and made a beeline for the bridge door. He motioned to Sarah and Halsey as he went, Legion already haven naturally fallen into step behind him. The group stepped out into the corridor and then took a left into a ten man room.

John tapped a control pad by the entry, and the door slid shut, and the room whizzed into motion toward the aft of the ship. The several hundred meter trip only took ten seconds, the door was once more opening, and the group marched out into another Spartan corridor.

They stepped through into yet another capsule opposite to the one they'd just departed and this time they descended to the lower decks of the ship. This time when the door opened they were greeted with the hustle and bustle of a very busy deck; the Marines and science teams had been brisk to follow the orders over the intercom and were in the rushed process of assembling all of their equipment in rows for convenient transport.

John marched through the swarm of organised chaos with his group marching behind him until he reached a square platform, the only point in the entire bay that wasn't being stampeded by the crew. Buck and Olympia joined them from amongst the crowd with professional efficiency.

The group assembled in a line behind John and Halsey, "Take us down, Roland," John ordered.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the platform began its descent through the outer layers of the ships armour plating and then into the open air of Rannoch. John, and his group, naturally raised their hands to shield their eyes from the sun glare that they were immediately subject too and looked toward the six individuals of obvious Quarian stature walking briskly across the tarmac toward their point of landing.

The metal landing pad touched down with a gentle thud, and they quickly stepped from the textured metal onto the gritty tarmac so that it could ascend back to the ship to retrieve their landing party.

The Quarian figures drew closer, and John instantly recognised the one in the lead. He took several long strides forward to close the gap between them and stretched out a hand in a shake, "Tali, it's good to see you again," He greeted as she smiled warmly through her visor at him and allowed her hand to be engulfed by his.

"Even better to see you again, Master Chief!" She said with her vailed beaming smile staying in place.

John tried to relax his features enough for his still revealed face to settle into a calm and pleased expression. He felt his forced attempt turn into a natural reaction as Tali disengaged her hand and the other Quarian woman present stepped forward for a handshake with a smile of her own on display.

"You have done a great deal for our people, Master Chief," She said in a cultured voice. Her lips curled upwards in a slight smirk as her eyes shifted from him to Legion, then to the other Spartans and Halsey. "Gerrel told us that you have come with an offer?"

"Admiral 'Xen!" Tali bit out in a hushed cry of anger. "These people are our allies, we should treat them with-"

"-Oh shush," Daro smiled as she waved off Tali attempting to chastise her for her bold and very undiplomatic Segway from regular diplomatic preamble and discussion. "The Master Chief is of the same mind as me, after all, aren't you?" Her smirk played coy with her unhidden amusement on her lips and in her eyes, and John naturally let his smile remain as he nodded.

"Straight to the point works well for us too, Admiral Daro'Xen. This is Doctor Halsey," John pivoted to his left to make the much smaller woman visible around his bulk and gestured toward her with his palm.

"As I said in our approach, we - I – can offer you my, and the UNSC's knowledge in gene therapy and enhance the Quarian's immune health." Halsey started with a firm expression. She, unlike John and his team of Spartans, was unable to see the expressions that the two Quarian women wore.

"What's in it for you?" Daro immediately shot back.

"She means, what does the UNSC get out of this?" Tali asked hastily to attempt to cover Daro's lack of diplomatic niceness.

John subtly waved his hand to Halsey as he straightened his posture somewhat to dwarf Daro more than he already did, "The UNSC is here for the long haul, we want to help, and we want allies for the future. We've helped get your world back, bring peace with the Geth, and now we're going to help your people live the lives they've always wanted. We get friends out of this."

Daro's lips stayed set in a firm line as she narrowed her eyes and attempted to stare down the Spartan who towered over her. But the monolithic Human simply stared right back, his pleasant expressions having been exchanged for a set jaw and steeled eyes.

She stared for a moment longer before her lips began to quirk into a small smile turned smirk once more, "Then friends you'll have, Master Chief. Here's hoping you won't be dragging us into any war that we don't want."

John only gave her a firm nod before looking to Tali's barely restrained anger bristling on her face behind her mask as she stared at her counterpart, but Legion spoke before Tali could either instigate a debate with Daro over her attitude or Daro could aggravate the by the book much younger Quarian further.

"The Geth will also be at the UNSC's disposal as allies. We will be committing all units to assisting the Creators full return to Rannoch and with building defences in preparation for the Reapers."

"Good," John said simply with a nod to the synthetic.

"We'll still be setting up our own labs to operate from?" Halsey asked, her presence smaller than usual as she looked to her former underling.

John looked at her oddly and realised that this was the first time she had been with him in a position where he truly was the one in command of even her. "Yes, have the full complement deployed and set up asap, there's no time to waste, and it doesn't look like you'll be needed with the Imperium now that the constructors are working on it."

"Chief?" Sarah stepped forward. Seeing the acknowledgement on her commanders face she continued, "Want me to contact Roland and get that underway?"

John nodded once and looked back to the two Quarians, before finally looking at their armed guard that had stopped ten meters away. Seeing them relaxed and not seemingly concerned about the Spartans in the slightest, he let his attention fall back to the two women, "I assume that we'll be coordinating with you, Daro, to set up our facility?"

"That is the case," She answered with an air of confidence, "You'll have to go through several procedures before we can go ahead with this."

"No, Admiral, we will not." John abruptly answered as his expression hardened. "You'll tell us where we can set up our facility, and we'll get to work doing what you can't."

"How dare you tal-" She began in anger before Tali cut her off.

"Daro, don't play ridiculous bureaucratic games with them. For the first time in generations we have an entire civilisation wanting to help us, so we'll make it happen!" Tali argued angrily, finding her confidence as she continued. "You sensor mapped the area?" She asked, looking at John.

Halsey stepped around his bulk to take a position by his side, and she nodded once to Tali.

"We've been placing our prefab buildings as we need; we have no set layout currently. So set up anywhere by the cluster of research buildings over there," She nodded to her left, over her shoulder, toward the cluster of buildings that she and Daro had approached from.

Halsey held Tali's eyes for a moment in silent thanks for making it easy and made a point to not look at Daro as she gave a slight nod to Sarah. The Spartan woman immediately reached into her helmet and tapped a hidden button. "Roland, did you get that?"

"Aye, aye, Spartan, teams will be setting up soon," His polite and amused voice answered smoothly from the loosely held helmet.

True to the amused and conceding voice from the helmet, the nose of the Strident overhead shifted and dragged its looming shadow across the tarmac until it shrouded the Quarian structures in the shade. The micro-gravity emitters the ship used to make micro manoeuvres in gravity caused the air around the ship to ripple as it veered to Starboard to leave some space between the Quarian buildings and where Roland had clearly chosen as the setup location.

The solid based of the gravity lift once again descended from the belly of the frigate, this time loaded with two multi-mobility UNSC forklifts and several Elephant-Vehicle sized stacks of silver white crates. The contoured edges of the gravity lift base plate gently thudded onto the ground, and the forklifts at the behest of their hidden operators sprung into motion, leveraging several crates at once and moving them to clearly pre-ordained positions beneath the ship.

"Your people are used to this?" Daro asked with a quirked brow, looking from the two manned machines making quick work of distributing the crates around what was clearly to be the footprint of the building.

Sarah nodded for John, knowing that she was more versed in modern UNSC deployments than him. "We carry mobile research and garrison structures with us in most ships these days in case we find a Forerunner facility that we need to set up in."

"You found one of them in this galaxy too, didn't you?" Daro ventured softly, the former steely edge to her voice traded for a more subtle note.

John let a small smirk pull the corner of his mouth as he regarded the Quarian, "We did, it's an impressive base of operations."

The Spartan's all watched the keen smile stretch across Daro's lips through her faceplate, and Tali, clearly having noticed the subtle reactions within the other Admirals body language, intercepted any possible aggravation with a small step forward to draw attention to her.

"The Admiralty board, myself included, agreed that we would like a formal alliance with the UNSC, who would be signing the treaty?" Tali asked, looking from John to Sarah to Halsey.

Halsey smiled and looked at John again, "My Spartan is in charge these days, fortunately."

Tali's and Daro's luminescent eyes both sought John's bright blue gaze beseechingly for a moment before Daro turned back toward the building's they'd come from. "This way, we'll draw up the treaty and have it declared momentarily."

John and the three Spartan's immediately moved in Daro's wake, with Tali moving to fall into step beside Halsey at the rear of the group. "You're people have selected the Master Chief for rolls of this importance?" She double checked.

Halsey looked at the back of John's head with the short regulation length buzz cut, his hair thicker than his age would normally allow, before looking back to Tali, "John is in charge, these days. He's the most experienced soldier and leader we have, and even Captain Laky is happy to take direction from him."

Tali gave a single shake of her head at the thought of the cryptic anomaly of John's defiance of his own age from his time in space and in cryo and that he was now the leader of an entire people. "It suits him," She agreed at last, following Daro and the Spartans into the dark metal structures of her peoples make toward a series of tables strewn with data pads and papers.

"Indeed it does, Admiral," Halsey smiled lightly at the youthful alien woman who was likewise in a considerable position of power.

 **May 2** **nd** **– Rannoch  
**

The air thrummed with the bellow of ships engines, metal being grafted to metal, industrial welding units, and the distant chatter of voices from John's point of observation at the eastern edge of the UNSC research station over the once beautiful plains that had been converted into a ground side dry dock facility. He was standing on top of a slight rise in the earth a dozen paces off the tarmac that he'd first stepped onto a month earlier.

The soft bright green grass that emitted a peachy scent underfoot that had once encircled the entire northern half of Tummel had been drastically reduced in the wake of the John's Strident arriving. Followed several days later by the Infinity and a full complement of scientists and Forerunner constructors under the control of one of Roland's fragments.

The build-up for the arrival of the Reapers had begun almost immediately. Halsey and an entire platoon of researchers working closely with Quarian engineers had integrated UNSC technologies into the designs of the Quarian ships and started work on a whole new fleet of twenty cruisers and ten Super MAC platforms in the once grassy plains.

The natural beauty had quickly been pummelled into hard earth from the constant workforce marching to and fro. But it was a worthy trade-off, John had decided, as he watched the first completed four hundred meter Cruiser begin to lift off from the massive old fashioned-looking dry dock that had been constructed within the earth to build the ships in.

A cheer filled the air from a distance at the sight, bringing John's gaze to his right to where several thousand Quarians stood at the fringes of Tummel's cityscape to watch the first of their new fleet rise toward the heavens.

"You've given them – me – hope, Chief," Tali announced with a pause in the midst of her words to implicate herself.

John let his expression relax into a neutral smile as Tali's voice declared her presence from her soft footfalls to spend time with him again.

He didn't want misplaced modesty to be what he was known for, so he looked through her faceplate as he answered, "You'll need all the hope I or the UNSC can give to beat this enemy. We see the Quarians to be similar to Humanity from our galaxy, we know how much you can achieve."

Tali held his gaze for a moment longer before stepping up to stand beside him and witness exactly the same view, now letting the slight frown cover her lips at his smooth divergence from what had been her personal attempt to compliment him. She tilted her head and looked after the Cruiser that was moments away from breaching the early morning red-tinged clouds.

There was a distinctly Quarian look to it that pleased her, despite it clearly being produced by UNSC materials and technologies. The central circular structure present in all Quarian vessels was filled in to be a solid structure which tapered off into fins, which likewise from their points tapered back along the length of the ship like an alien looking arrow.

She knew well that each point of the forward facing side, including the centre, cradled a MAC several degrees more powerful than any of the Mass Accelerator cannons employed by the Alliance. But the knowledge of that didn't ease her concerns regarding their combat effectiveness against Reapers.

She'd seen one of them take the entire firepower of the Citadel fleet and still manage to wipe out half of the biological' defenders before being defeated. She grit her teeth at the stressful thought and shook her head once to banish the thoughts of defeat that always managed to edge their way into any topic.

The Quarian pivoted to look at the extra-galactic Human warrior who'd set her people free, and reached for her faceplate. Johns' bright blue eyes tracked her hand as Tali pinched a release catch beneath her chin, and with a soft hiss, pulled her faceplate away and looked upon him.

The soft pink skin around Tali's pale luminescent eyes crinkled as a smile claimed her face, and every millimetre of her face expressed it. She allowed her left hand holding her faceplate to fall to her side, and she squared her shoulders toward the Spartan who towered over her by a full thirty centimetres and out massed her by the weight of several people.

"I can do this thanks to you too," Tali sighed in a blissful tone and looking carefully into John's powerfully bright gaze. "Dr Halsey has told me that after the next round of therapy that I won't need to worry about any infections at all, beyond the possibility of obviously getting a more normal human level of sickness, like the flu." She corrected herself as she explained her comfort in being de-masked.

John kept his smile small, and typical to himself, with the corners of his lips slightly pulling upwards, "I wouldn't know about that, I've never been sick since becoming a Spartan, I don't think I even remember getting sick as a child."

"Not even once?" She instantly queried in fascination. Sensing that he'd simply agree with her, she quickly asked more, "How were you chosen to be a Spartan?"

John pursed his lips for only a moment of thought before deciding he was happy to talk about it, having read all of the documents on the Spartan II program since arriving within this galaxy. "All across UNSC space genetic tests are used to catalogue individuals, I, and the other Spartans were all apparently genetically special. We all had various genetic mutations that would have given us more physical ability, more creative or intellectual minds, or other things that could set us apart. It seems that trait also affected our immune systems -or at least mine."

Tali's eyes widened slightly in wonder and a small settled on her full lips, "Did Dr Halsey use you at all for studies to help with the Quarian treatment?"

John's eyes turned surprisingly serious at the simple question, and he answered with an edge to his voice that wasn't there before, "No, I don't want any genetic examination."

The pleasantness and wonder on Tali's face instantly washed away, and she frowned in surprise at the cold tone. John, seeing her look and mentally kicking himself for his reaction to the topic that he felt concerned about shook his head at his own emotional display, "My meeting with a Forerunner has changed things… I don't really want to know how yet."

"Oh," She mouthed more than said and nodded in understanding before stepping back to be beside him and look back at the construction zone as another space worthy structure started to rise into the air from its dry dock.

"The Orbital MAC's being completed was the number one priority," The soldier diverged from the topic with a nod toward the massive magnetically powered artillery that was being nudged skyward by the ignition of several Pelican sized engines fixed around its support rig which was only in place for construction and lift off.

Tali clenched her teeth at the change of topic once more but looked along at the site of the one point five-kilometre long gun rising to position itself to defend Rannoch. It was industrial in design, but also distinctly alien with the silver-grey metal that gave it a glint in the sunlight.

She'd read up on each of the projects that the UNSC had brought to Rannoch to benefit the Quarian civilisation and the knowledge of the power that this single weapons platform was capable of unleashing naturally frightened her. Tali grimaced slightly at the recollection of it being able to fire a three thousand tonne slug at four percent the speed of light every eight seconds and be as mobile as it needed to be with its own onboard vacuum energy extractor.

"The other nine should be finished soon too," John concluded just as the MAC passed through the glowing red clouds above and a second Cruiser began its lift off right on schedule to what John had come to see. "Have you decided what placement you will be taking yet?"

Tali started at the unexpected and looked to the Cruiser lifting skyward, she knew that he meant if she would be captaining any of the Quarians new ships, or if she would be working purely on research programs. As much as Tali wanted to answer in the affirmative to any possibility, she simply didn't know yet.

Her thoughts about her path forward were tumultuous and in flux as she took stock of her position and how she'd come to be here. Thanks to her upbringing and her father she'd always been destined to be important regarding the Quarians stance toward the Geth, and then in her Pilgrimage she'd not sought action or conflict so much as she'd just sought curiosity and been thrust into conflict and had to learn how to deal with it.

In meeting Shepard, she'd learnt how to deal with conflict very well, and thanks to him were able to return to the Fleet afterwards with data that would ensure she'd take a command of her own. Once more, Shepard had been injected into her life, like some kind of authorities steroidal treatment which would be sure to bolster her position.

And thanks to him, she'd met Legion, worked and learned with a Geth, and met a Human from a different reality who had already started to change the face of the galaxy. She'd been thrust from one position of authority to the next, upwards in power, without the time to truly think about what she wanted to do or be, and now she was an Admiral and finally had the chance to decide where she wanted to go.

"I don't know," Her voice came out softly after a long pause with a gentle shake of her head. She looked back up into John's face and instinctively reached toward his armoured chest with her right hand.

He didn't move to prevent her or meet her, and her alien hand settled on the middle of his chest at her head height as softly as Cortana's hard light projection once had. At the recollection of the memory, John's expression glazed over as she spoke more boldly about her hidden point than she'd been able to previously, "I wanted to go with you. I wanted to stay with you…"

John softly pushed his lips together for a moment of concerted effort to remould his thoughts away from Cortana and back to the current woman at hand who was quite literally reaching out to be with him. The thought confused him more than anything since he could easily recognise within himself that he was a man of practicality.

And looking back, he could recognise Tali's leaning toward him for what they were, but he'd been unable to even really consider them in the light of the simple difference in biology. He was capable of finding another being attractive, as the thought had occurred to him throughout his life in a plethora of different contexts.

He'd seen women he'd found beautiful in their visage. Men whose strength or handsomeness had instinctively earnt even his attention. Aliens whose boldness or litheness had impressed and attracted him, and yet, he'd never approached the topic of romance, but had never intercepted it when it had inserted itself in its mild ways into his life.

As a Spartan, he'd always had a somewhat more gentle spot out of all the other Spartans specifically for Kelly, and he knew that there was a spectrum of romantic interest there. As Spartans that spectrum had stayed exactly where it should have to not get in the way of what they were and what they were meant to do.

As the one man luminary that he had become after Reach and his introduction to Cortana, he'd developed a much more civilian style of romantic influence from the gentle yet powerful female. And more than anything, she'd taught him just how human he really was in how much he could really feel. He'd realised that all of his surviving Spartan II's would likely be learning how Human they really felt as they aged and survived and yearned for something more.

And then the desperate rush through Requiem, the Didact, the Librarian. The Forerunner woman's clear to see desperate love for what John was as a being and her affection toward the development of even Cortana, it had awoken in him the recognition that he did love things, that a silent part of him did yearn for something more.

But by practicality and circumstance, that could never have been Cortana. As fate snatched her away from him, he'd been pushed into a new experience with new individuals who were more emotionally open than any he'd ever seen and been exposed to. And with his new position as the sole one of his kind in this universe, he'd let his emotional self-come to the fore, albeit in his own restrained fashion.

He found his eyes seeking into Tali's eyes, and his heart made a small leap in the upset of disappointing her and a small, sad smile moved his lips as he grasped her gloved hand from his chest with his own gloved hand and cradled it, not breaking eye contact. "Tali, I'm a Human, you're a Quarian."

Tali's expression hardened a little as though she'd been expecting a fight out of this, "So? I don't need to have children with you to be with you, Keelah, to think that I've even thought about children shows how much I care, isn't that enough?"

John likewise had considered his own genetic future, of leaving a lasting impact on reality in the form of a bloodline to follow in his wake. He hadn't thought so much about the emotional side of a relationship that would or could give him a child or children, so much as simply acknowledging the instinctive desire to have someone to follow after him.

The momentary urge to use wanting a child in the future as a rebuttal made him pause, but the look briefly crossed his face.

"Even if you want children in the future, Keelah, there are options for that! A surrogate? Who knows what could have been achieved in genetics by then?" Tali debated more hotly than John expected. The softness and composure had left her face, and a glint of fear shone in her eyes.

John had seen marines, men and women, cradle each other in a hug before or after going into or coming out of a fight. To soothe one another and express the softness that the hardness of reality was denying them, but the practicality of being able to hug the smaller alien with him in his armour held back the idea of attempting to console her.

Instead, he clasped her palm a little tighter, "Tali, we're going to be at war soon. I'm in command of the UNSC now, you're a Quarian Admiral. You can be better off with one of your own kind."

She frowned, and some of the fight left her eyes, "I want to be with you…" Her words came out softly, barely loud enough for even John to hear over the background sounds of construction.

John clenched his jaw and lowered her hand back to her side where he softly let go and took a small step back from her to put space between them. "I think you should head up the Quarian division coming to Erda, it would be a good job for you, you won't need to fight, and you'll have all the research you could dream of working beside Glassman."

Defeated, Tali's gaze drifted from John's face to the soft grass beneath their feet, and she nodded softly, "It would be a good position to take, a fresh start in a new world."

John looked onto her for a moment longer as her lip quivered and then her jaw set, much like his, and she shifted to face back toward the construction zone to see another scaffolded MAC being prepared for take-off.

He watched her for a moment and questioned his choice. He'd had good experiences with Tali since arriving, and they had a lot in common with their being suited, but there were key differences that separated them, and he couldn't look past that.

"John, do you copy?" The familiar feminine voice came from the helmet in John's left hand, muffled by the position and distance. Perfectly timed to cut off what would have needed to be an awkward goodbye.

Tali instinctively looked to the helmet before glancing back at John and nodding slightly in the okay that she was fine. John gave her a thin smile in thanks for moving on past the issue before he hefted the helmet and placed it protectively back over his head.

"I copy, Sarah."

"The Infinity is in orbit, we've got an intel report you'll want to see."

"On the way back," John answered. And with a nodded gesture to Tali, pivoted back toward the UNSC complex across the tarmac and started taking long strides back to the circular white command structure that rose six floors high with an overlook of the entire region.

Tali moved beside him, but the short walk was taken in silence until they reached the doors and they automatically opened to the hustle and bustle of UNSC activity, with two Quarians present next to a holographic table beside Sarah Palmer and Halsey as the Quarian diplomatic attaché.

"Report?" John ordered, moving through the room to the centre.

Sarah waved a hand over the table, and a holographic representation of Lasky sprung from the surface. "Chief, good to see the progress is going well down there…" Lasky paused and fixed his eyes on John before continuing. "Mahkee and Shepard were in a nebula in the Hawking Eta cluster to pose an attack on a Turian flotilla as a Terminus ship; before they could make any move a directed plasma weapon destroyed the Turian ships from within the Nebula. The magnetic interference prevented any kind of scan, but that also kept them hidden-"

"-And no races here use directed plasma weapons," John interrupted, his brow clenched within his helmet. "So you think there are Covenant here?"

Lasky gave a single slow nod, "There has to be."

"Why would they attack a Turian Flotilla though, Captain Lasky?" Halsey asked in her typical slow and thoughtful manner.

"Maybe they just arrived and figured they were hostile?" Tali posited, having subtly and smoothly replaced her visor as they'd entered.

Sarah immediately shook her head, "If that was the case, why were they waiting to ambush from a nebula that prevented scanning?" She looked thoughtfully at Lasky for a moment in the brief silence and narrowed her eyes, "Did Shepard and Mahkee stay hidden and observe?"

"No, they bugged out the moment Mahkee identified it as a grade of plasma weapon you'd see on an assault carrier," Lasky answered, his hand stroking his chin in the same line of thought as Sarah.

"So we don't actually know why they attacked the Turian Flotilla," John finished.

"Early in the war –" Halsey paused and shook her head slightly, "-All through the war, the Covenant would destroy ships and try to mine any data they could for intel on us."

"That still raises the question on why they picked Turian's and why they did it in an ambush, Doctor," Lasky countered as he pinched his chin in thought and gave a nod to someone beyond the holograms field of projection.

"But it answers others," Halsey said. "Just through deduction; why would they pick the Turian's out of all the different species of this galaxy. The Turian's are the only ones without allies right now, and they are feeling oppressed, that makes them an easy target, which tells us that these Covenant have probably been here long enough to at least have observed the breakdown of the Citadel Council. It just doesn't tell us what they were after."

"Should we report this to the Quarian Admiralty?" One of the Quarian diplomats asked from Halsey's right.

Lasky shook his head down at the alien man, "Not yet, this won't concern them unless these Covenant come to Rannoch, and I just watched two of your new ships and a MAC platform enter orbit. We'll inform the Asari and Salarian leadership though since they have patrols near Turian space."

A silence settled over the room as all the UNSC personnel thought grimly on the Covenant as an enemy once more becoming a threat. Each of them had been scarred by the war, and no one could escape its effect through the generations. It was a miracle and a testament the Human military discipline that after the war had ended that they had been able to have any kind of diplomatic relations with the Arbiter, and even still now had accepted Mahkee and her Sangheili into their ranks.

Halsey loudly yet subtly cleared her throat to carry the rooms attention back to her, "So now we move onto Operation Genesis? The MAC platforms are well underway and nearing completion, so is their new fleet, and the first wave of gene therapy participants will be finishing up in a few days."

John gave his mother figure a single nod, then looked down to Tali in his shadow, "You'll need to arrange this with the Admiralty and open up a candidacy program."

She looked at the assembled figures of power before looking back to John, "I'll take that position on Erda then, in case the war comes here."

 **May 20** **th** **– Erda.**

Tali couldn't help the wonder that had taken residence on her face since being called to the bridge of the Master Chief's Strident frigate and entering to see the absolute black interrupted by streaks of blue and red beyond the hardened glass.

She'd slowed in her wonder and silently assumed as John and Halsey both informed the unmasked Quarian woman that they were nearing their exit point from Slip Space to arrive at Erda. She'd simply nodded in absent understanding and made her way to the forward viewscreen, a spot designed for the captain of the ship to stand during battle to take in the entire scene and issue orders.

She splayed her hands across the glass in amazement, and then took a quick step back in surprise as the space in front of them was suddenly filled with what appeared the be an endless wall of dark silver metal with a glowing circular point ahead. Instinctively she swung her gaze over her shoulder to the Master Chief and Halsey.

"Welcome to Erda," John said. He smiled slightly as he did so and nodded at something through the glass. "We're preparing to start distributing the ships to the Alliance and Krogan."

Tali furrowed her brow in momentary confusion, and she spun back to the glass to see what he meant. Seeking out the swarm of Alliance design dreadnaughts only took moments with the multitude of white hulls now clear as they drew closer to the glowing portal.

"There are seventy, so you don't need to count," Halsey prompted. The tinge of smugness was clear in her voice, and Tali could barely blame the aged Human for it.

It would have taken any of the races of the galaxy years to construct this many Dreadnaughts. "They're standard design?" She asked at last as they drew within several kilometres on their trajectory.

"Not quite," Halsey began. She took a few quick steps forward to stand next to Tali, so she didn't have to speak up. "We've enhanced the armour and shields and added several miniaturised MAC's along the dorsal structure. They should be able to take more and deal more damage than the standard line from the Alliance."

"Should?" Tali asked speculatively.

"Well, from what we know, these Reapers, they pack a fair bit of firepower, but no specifics were recorded from your battle at the Citadel," Halsey started with a note of concern to her voice.

John's shadow loomed over them as he stepped forward too, and he gave a nod of approval to his helmsman before looking down on Tali. "And most of our resources are wrapped up in clearing Tuchanka and our own defensive construction, we enhanced them where it wouldn't get in the way of other things."

"We?" Tali asked again, picking out another pivotal word that implied more.

"By we," Halsey answered and made a come-hither gesture, "He means myself, Glassman, and Roland."

Tali frowned at the simple clarification in confusion and a glint of anger, "You mean that you have the ability to help everyone and you're keeping that-"

"-No!" John interrupted her angered response with a hard tone to his voice.

Tali's eyes snapped to him in fright and concern at the heavy tone, and he shook his head at her once. "We could just work on keeping ourselves safe, we don't even need to be in this war. But we are helping everyone, and we will put our own projects first."

Tali scrunched her brow together again, and opened her mouth to argue back but was interrupted by Halsey speaking first, "Tali'Zorah Vas Rannoch, which people earned your world back?"

She promptly shut her mouth and pursed her lips in frustrated defiance.

"And which people made it possible for you, and all of your settlement team to live outside your suits?"

The fine pale pink skin over Tali's nose crinkled as she did her best to bring her admiral persona back into place and suppress her adolescent indignation.

"And who gave you a fleet of warships and defences more advanced than anything else in the galaxy?" Halsey said with an air of finality.

Tali raised her palms in defeat and schooled her features, "Yes, you have made your point, Doctor Halsey, the UNSC has done a great deal for us even though we've done nothing for you."

John kept his sigh of frustration within his mind alone as Halsey narrowed her eyes to argue back at the selective use of words. He quickly set his large hand on the woman's shoulder and gained her attention before turning back to the helmsman.

"Entrance in – Three – Two – One – Mark," Haverson called in a clipped military tone, supplying a reprieve to what would have been a heated debate.

John looked at the back of Tali's black-haired groomed head in contained frustration and wanted to let out a stream of wandering frustrations about her behaviour ever since he'd rejected her advances. She continued to do the right thing, and continued to strive for her people, but had become argumentative at every turn and difficult at any opportunity in some kind of effort to contest his actions and authority.

He shook his head briefly and pushed it to the back of his mind as the light within the bridge changed, and he looked down upon the growing UNSC city below.

"Looks like the Unggoy habitation zone is complete," Haverson called cheerily after having given his commander a knowing look and a nod toward Tali. The massive metal and glass structure roughly four kilometres in length across from the field that John and Sword Team had resided in the last time he was here lit up in green through the smart glass.

"Unggoy?" Tali asked slowly at the strange name and then furrowed her brow again as she looked at a point in the far right of the view screen which was obscured in a haze. "And what's that?"

"Bringing us down," Haverson dictated to John as the Spartan moved for the bridge door and waved for Tali and Halsey to follow.

"Unggoy are a former race of the Covenant, some came with us, they breathe methane." He informed as they cleared the bridge doors and took down the hallway. He purposefully avoided her second question and hoped that she'd drop it so that he didn't have to deny her more information.

He'd not even taken into account that her presence as a non-UNSC asset on the bridge being noted by the onboard dumb AI that the viewscreens smart glass would blur out the Imperium's construction zone as classified. He momentarily considered if there was any need to even keep it classified, considering that it would be finished in the near future and that the galaxy at large would learn of it soon enough.

"And that foggy thing?" Tali pressed as they stepped into the small tram that would take them to the hanger.

"Classified," John opted for in a short and sweet answer.

"Classified? We're allies?" Tali instantly argued back.

"Allies from this galaxy don't ever keep any secrets from each other?" Halsey asked back rhetorically with a smirk.

Tali schooled her face before she could crinkle her expression in frustrated anger before nodding once. "Of course, Doctor, I was simply curious about what kind of project could be so important at the moment that it would need to be classified."

"One that might save everyone," John answered concisely.

The tram slid to a smooth halt, and they followed the usual route into the opposing elevator before emerging from it into the once again bustling hanger, this time, instead of it being packed with marines and scientist personnel, Quarian's filled the space almost shoulder to shoulder.

"Master Chief!" A familiar voice greeted as a male emerged from the crowd.

John looked at the source and instantly flicked off a quick salute, "Kal, is everyone ready to disembark?"

The Quarian marine mirrored the salute and smiled broadly with his elongated canines on full display and the pale skin around his eyes crinkling in his happiness at the opportunity. "You bet your ass they are, we're just waiting for your word, and we'll be ground side following whatever orders the UNSC gives us to get set up."

Kal'Reegar was a breath of fresh air as far as Quarian's were concerned, to John, after mostly only talking with Tali and Daro the past month. "Good, have you seen Spartan Sarah?" He decided on.

Kal threw a thumb over his shoulder in a rough point, "Yeah, your Spartan Team are on the grav lift with the first cargo group assembled, they got us all ready as soon as the in system announcement came."

John smiled slightly at his new team's efficiency and subtly gestured to be followed with a wave. He moved past Kal, and the crowd of Quarians parted before him. Kal fell into step beside Tali with a nodded "Ma'am," and remained quiet.

"Sarah, all set?"

The tall Spartan woman's soft hazel eyes instantly focused on John's blue ones, and she gave a small smile of confirmation, "Buck and Olympia are on the other side to start unloading as soon as we touch down."

John looked over the stacked crates with Quarians perched on their edges to where he knew the opposing side of the grav lift platform was, then back to Sarah. "Reegar was saying that with us helping that they can be putting their prefab buildings up within an hour."

John glanced from the unmasked male Quarian back to Sarah and gave a nod of approval. As though fated for eternally perfect timing, the light on the grav lift control flashed from red to green, signifying that they'd settled over their landing point. "Looks like that our signal."

"I'll stay here to organise the next lift," Reegar answered the unasked question instantly.

John gave him a nod of thanks immediately and stepped onto the slightly raised platform to stand next to Sarah, Halsey and Tali silently following in his footsteps to do the same.

"Clear the lift for departure!" Sarah called loudly above the thrum of noise in the busy hanger as a safety precaution before slapping the green button and beginning their descent to the ground.

As they cleared the outer hull of the Strident, they were gifted an unobstructed view of all that had changed since their last visit. The Forerunner city had been completely removed, and the temporary looking UNSC prefab city that had been abutting it had grown into the space that the Forerunner structures once occupied, but were now carrying signs of a permanent design; more civilian looking than military.

"Nice to see that they've left the field intact," Sarah mused at the changed which they were nearing as the shadow of the grav lift marked their landing zone on a small section of tarmac at the edge of the original outpost that had been deployed by the Infinity.

John followed Sarah's gaze and even saw that the military canvas tent that they'd used to relax in was still present in the middle of the lush grassy field with its knee-length fronds. "Look's like the Unggoy finished their crop work too," He noted to where FlipYap had formerly annoyed them from.

"It appears to be a Barley crop," Halsey explained as they all peered a little closer.

Despite the noise of the chatter of the Quarians who'd parked themselves all over the crates and were speaking excitedly about the surroundings they were becoming immersed in, Buck and his typically keen Spartan hearing picked up Halsey's observation.

"Gonna introduce this galaxy to Edward Bucks finest Whiskey if that's true Doc!" The rowdy former ODST called from the opposite side of the platform as it neared the ground. A thud followed a moment later, and a whoop in the tones of his voice followed, "Any of you Quarians up for opening a little distillery with me?"

Another laugh followed as they touched down and Olympia's decidedly more cultured tones followed, "Hah, if Edward Buck proved smart enough to make Whiskey from barley then I'll ask a Sangheili on a date."

John, Sarah, Halsey and Tali all stepped off from their edge of the platform, and all of the Quarians hopped from their positions and immediately began sliding mechanical dolly's under the crates for immediate transport. A rare open smile graced Sarah's usually all business expression, and she called over the crowd, "I wouldn't take that bet if I were you, Olympia!" She laughed mirthfully at the memory of Buck rambling about his loved hobby of making his own alcohols came to the fore of her mind. "If I were as good a commander as he is a drinker then I'd be head of ONI by now."

The mirthful notes of Olympia's laugh and Buck's chuckle came through the crowd as they came bounding around the side of the landing platform with arms full of crates. They deposited them in a neat stack just as a dozen fully armoured Spartans jogged over.

"Master Chief!" One of them saluted and stepped forward. "We're under orders to assist the Quarian settlement team to disembark your ship."

John saluted back, "Understood, Spartan. We'll get out of your way."

The Spartan man dropped his salute and turned to his squad, pointing to the Quarians and the cargo as he did. A moment later and the twelve enhanced men and women were weaving amongst the Quarian's and moving the cargo at three times the speed as their dollies could.

"So what now?" Tali questioned, looking around at the organised mayhem quickly falling back into neat control of UNSC standards.

Sarah pointed to the operations base that flanked the tarmac, "I believe Governor O'Shanesy has a development layout for your settlement, we'll escort you to him and get it arranged asap."

Tali nodded and fell into step behind the sable-haired Spartan as she immediately moved to lead the way, as within her mind she mentally shook her head in frustration at how she felt her importance diminishing from one moment to the next.

The young Quarian woman slowed in her pacing following Sarah as she noticed the lack of John's presence nearby, and shifted her posture marginally to see him lagging behind as another group of massive aliens moved to greet him. These ones, with their elongated necks and reptilian features, fisted at their chests in place of the salutes used by the Spartans and the one in the lead spoke in a baritone voice.

"Leader, Commander Mahkee's reports are suggesting war with these Turian creatures might not be far off. The Sangheili are ready to serve your orders."

John pursed his lips in thought, and scanned the area, from the now thrumming tarmac filled with Quarians and Spartans to the bottom of the landing pad that was ascending back into the Strident to retrieve the next load of Quarians and their equipment. His bright blue eyes followed back to the Quarian cargo that the Spartans had neatly arranged into categorised rows, over the field, which upon closer inspection had a multitude of Unggoy dressed in green tunics tending to crops, to the city beyond and the ongoing construction of tall buildings dressed in glistening glass reaching upwards.

He nodded toward the city to where he could see more than a dozen Pelicans and a swarming cloud of constructors moving, knowing that they were above the construction of the Imperium in the natural valley that lay well beyond the city. "How's the Imperium construction going?"

Tali halted behind Sarah after slowing her pace to keen her senses onto John and pinched her fine brow together in contemplation of whatever that was. John's gaze found her looking at him, but he didn't express any concern as the Sangheili spoke again, "The reports that I am aware of say construction is ahead of schedule. The Governor will be able to inform you more, Leader."

John gave a muted grunt in response then looked up to the hull of the Strident as the pad began to descend again, "The Quarian's military leader will be on this offload, I want you to familiarise him and the Quarian's with the Sangheili and assist in any way that you can."

The Sangheili and his group of ten all slammed their fists into the chests again. John moved to catch up with Tali and Sarah just as the young Quarian noticed that Sarah had likewise stopped several paces ahead and was giving her a deadpan expression that said just as much as a displeased one would have.

"Hurry up," Sarah ordered as John neared. Her words were clearly directed at Tali though, "I'm not a diplomat."

Tali bit back a smirk at the added comment, and she realised that neither was she, otherwise the Spartan woman wouldn't feel such disdain for her. John walked passed Tali and fell into step beside Sarah as they approached the blast doors of the firebase turned operation centre.

The doors slid open at the prompting of the double Marine guard, and they entered. The typical firebase construction was filled with UNSC men and women in officers uniforms, and a multitude of desks and display stations had been set up. John glanced at the nearest one manned by a young Asian woman and watched her fingers dance across the display showing every aircraft in the area. "Flight Bravo Nine, your vector is clear for an approach to Forerunner site C3," She advised into her microphone before switching it off and moving to select the next aircraft display.

"Master Chief," A short, grey-haired woman greeted, as she stepped from behind one of the nearby stations covered in schematics. "I hear that you've been successful in advancing our interests with the Quarians?" She asked knowingly with a nod to Tali.

Tali frowned slightly at that, not knowing if she was quite happy with how that was worded.

"Yes Governor, Quarian defences are being bolstered, and the first arrivals of operation Genisis are disembarking right now," John answered and stepped forward with a handshake ready.

The aged woman took the hand with more strength than her image hinted and clicked her tongue, "Going to be hard getting used to that title." She smirked at the change she and many UNSC officers had gone through in the past couple of months within Erda. "So I assume you've come here for direction?"

"Yes, Governor," John agreed, stepping slightly to the side and hefting his helmet from one hand to the next. "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah Vas Rannoch, she will be leading the Quarian integration efforts."

O'Shanesy stepped forward with another handshake for Tali, it was accepted and shook briefly, "Not much for you to do currently, Admiral, I'm afraid. The Spartans out there assisting have been fully briefed about construction zones and Constructor control have already assigned one swarm to assist in the building efforts. Given expectations will be eight hours until your living quarters are established."

"Thank you, Governor," Tali accepted slowly as her sensation of unimportance permeated deeper. "Is there anything that I can do to assist?"

O'Shanesy glanced from John to Sarah and then back to Tali. "Are you the kind of leaders who like to do the labour with the troops? If you are, you're more than welcome to work with your people and the Spartans in setup."

Tali adopted a professional smile and nodded, "Of course, I look forward to working and living with the UNSC. Our people greatly appreciate this opportunity."

"Oh, it's much more than just that, Admiral. If this war will be half as bad as expected, bringing your people here is an extinction precaution, we'll be joined by Asari, Salarians and maybe even Turian's soon." O'Shanesy said in surprise at Tali not being aware of the aim of the operation.

"Reegar and the Admiralty board are aware of this," John agreed with O'Shanesy before she could give him a questioning look as to why Tali didn't seem aware. "That's why Admiral 'Xen wanted this position, but I suggested you." He explained to Tali.

She nodded with a professional calm to her face, while internally raging at her own lack of awareness thanks to her personal foibles. Thinking back to the various briefings over the past month where she'd chosen to be argumentative rather than mentally invested in what was being said.

Her mind refocused on playing the needed diplomatic card, and she smiled the Governor, "The Quarian people are accustomed to living with the lines between family and disciplines blurred, I am still adapting to the way of things with having a planet to call home and the ability to live outside my mask. I look forward to working with you Governor."

A thin smile parted the wrinkled visage of the aged woman, "Likewise, Admiral Tali'Zorah. You'll see that the UNSC will become fast friends and allies."


	13. Chapter 13

**A shorter chapter this time around.**

 **I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year celebration! : )**

 **Now, review responses:**

 **Guest:** Many thanks for the high praise! Admittedly, in writing the Chief I know I've missed some character points thanks to stopping and starting. Also trying to build up a level of comfortability with other characters for him where the dry humour would come out more. No circumstances I've written thus far have felt right for that.  
I have intentionally left his perspective of the Mantle in something of a state of flux though. He's learning to adapt his own sense of what is right with it, and you're right in saying that it will be likened to what he was originally trained for –to an extent.  
As to the ships: The UNSC helped overhaul Quarian designs and helped them build brand new Strident-comparable cruisers. They'll stand up well in a fight against the Reapers (More on them later in the story), but the rest of the ships they're giving out aren't all that special. Standard Alliance designs with integrated MACs with proportionate power, which I figure would be about a third the power of a paris-class.  
But the UNSC's secret project which I've hinted at is revealed in the end of this chapter, that'll be the big curb stomping machine.  
I don't want to go making the UNSC too powerful where the war is just a bum rush.

 **TheDarkChronist:** Unfortunately, yes it is! I considered how integral a pairing could be or not to the story and decided (for now) against one. So that let down from John and immature reaction from Tali about it is the no-go sign for that pairing (possibly for good). I'll focus the story on friendships as far as relationships go, and at the end may introduce a pairing.  
When I started that chapter, I'd decided it would be a pairing set up chapter, which is why it dragged on a little as I decided to change that track to the opposite direction.

 **PopularFallacy:** Life has been crazy busy! I own a nutrition company and have barely been able to keep up with demand, so writing has been coming in second to just about everything else, and when I do write, it's usually my original sci-fi novel that I'm working on. FanFic is kind of like my spare creative energy writing.  
Refer to above review response regarding the romance. : ) But this chapter is a bit fillery, as a little tease, next chapters title is: The Veil Falls.  
If you follow my date progressions, you'll put that together and know what starts next chapter.

 **Daisy Rhine:** Thanks for still following along with the story! I hope you enjoy this simple chapter too.

 **Coduss:** A little public apology for the way this response was structured. After several disparaging messages about my previous chapter from other (the bad for fanfic community) folks on here, I misread the context thanks to similar wording in your review and replied with what I thought was the correct response with this: **"** Was the last chapter as concise, progressive, or active as the others? No. Was it as fun to follow in directive? Probably not; thanks in part to a long break from writing anything and deciding to break up the pairing concept and scrap the pairing build up by an emotional rejection. Is it necessary to post a review that lacks any kind of cordial respect for the fact that someone has spent time writing it, regardless of how you might like the depiction?"  
Thank you for reviewing so quickly and clarifying what you meant, that's my mistake in misinterpreting what you meant in your review. 

**Zealous Spectre:** I'm not sure you followed the whole rejection part of that pairing…

 **Mikey P (Guest):** Considering that (as much as I enjoy doing it) this is just FanFiction, and I have a whole life with other responsibilities to commit energy and time to, I think that I write this fairly well. No, I don't edit and rarely even proofread, I don't care to put the energy to it when I start work at 5 in the morning and stop work at 8-10 at night and work 6-7 days a week.

I'm glad that you are enjoying this story, and I appreciate that you are pointing out an issue, which I feel like you're describing as being an exceptionally bad one. As tired as I usually am when I sit down to write this fic, it is good to be more aware of any possible bad habits and try to amend them, but you really don't need to be spiteful in how you've gone about pointing them out.  
Could I apply more effort, awareness and energy to how I write this story? Absolutely I could! And I'll try to apply some extra energy to be more aware as I write this, but it's a long way from being a priority in the scheme of things.  
If this were the original novel that I put creative time and energy into on days off, then absolutely yes I do commit mental energy to how I write, I do proofread, and I do edit fully. Not to discredit FanFiction -especially as I describe it as a good way of expressive spare creative energy and interest- but, it is only FanFiction.

 **Chapter Thirteen  
.:: Just Dust and Echoes? ::.**

 **June 10** **th** **– Tuchanka  
**

"Urdnot has never been stronger," Wrex's gravelly tone rumbled in approval of the new world being built around them, "All the Krogan under one banner, fighting for our future, with strong allies!" He grinned and pivoted away from the neat white stoned assembly courtyard that stretched around the new version of the shroud facility. "Captain Lasky, every Krogan will fight this war with a passion."

Lasky smiled cordially and nodded to the other Human by his side, "Admiral Hackett has been instrumental in the recovery of your people too, Urdnot Wrex. Don't forget that it wasn't just the UNSC."

The calling of his name drew the Admiral's interested gaze away from the squad of six UNSC Spartan supersoldiers walking in formation on either side of a group of humans in white and blue lab coats, the typical attire of choice for UNSC scientific personnel. "Wrex, honestly, I can't say that the Alliance would have done differently than the Turians at the time of the Krogan wars. But it's good to be working with you now."

A deep chuckle resonated from Wrex, "That's what I like about you Human's; you speak honestly. But you're right, Admiral, the Krogan were wrong back then, but we're right now, we've got our world back and a brand new fleet of ships to go with it."

At the mention of the ships, Lasky glanced skyward to the fifty Alliance design ships, ranging from frigate class all the way up to dreadnaught class, hanging suspended in the whisps of the grey clouds intercepting the harsh sunlight above. As with all the ships that they had been constructing on Erda for the rest of the galaxy, very little had been changed in them from their designs beyond changing their primary cannon to a MAC with a power draw suitable to the ships mass, which worked out to be around half that of a standard UNSC frigate, but was nevertheless a vast improvement over the original weapons systems.

It had been decided early on that any ships produced for their allies simply could not be too demanding to produce to detract from the advancement of their own projects. The Master Chief's decision to push so much help and resources toward the Quarians had been the final nail in the coffin to the advancements that they could possibly have offered the rest of the galaxy.

"I expect the Krogan to pilot them well, our resources are definitely not endless," Lasky warned, and as though to prove him wrong, a cloud of constructors spiralled by overhead with a shining mass of metal suspended in their midst.

"Heeeeh, heeh," Wrex chuckled dryly, despite Lasky's expression not having changed despite the show of UNSC technological superiority. "Nice joke."

Lasky's eyes hardened, and he gestured toward the constructors speeding toward the northern edge of the Urdnot cityscape which was spreading as fast as the constructors could clear the debris. "Those things aren't in endless supply, and we're reducing our own defensive capability so that you can have a world to live on."

Wrex held up his palms defensively. He'd experienced the strength of character that Humans' could have through Shepard and on and off through several meetings with the former councillor Anderson, but neither of them had possessed close to the same amount of personal hardness as any of the UNSC people he'd met. He attributed that to what he knew of their people's history and the harshness of their own war for survival. "I meant no offence, Captain," He placated apologetically, "I just mean that the UNSC is very impressive, and so is your Master Chief."

Lasky smirked ironically, "As impressive as we might be, it could be said that it was our presence that split up the council."

"Captain, don't put that on yourself," Hackett immediately cut in. "There might be an element of truth to that, but it is also your presence that got the Quarians their world back, rebuilt Tuchunka, built the most powerful alliance in galactic history, and gave us all a chance of surviving this."

"We better hope that you don't turn on us after this is all done," Wrex chuckled dryly in his version of a diplomatic joke. It earned him a disapproving look from Hackett, and Wrex quietly realised that it was a possibility that Hackett had obviously considered, further opening his eyes to the fact that the other races probably had thought the same at some point.

"We have no need to turn on you." Lasky replied simply, and to their enquiring eyes continued, "Your ships can't reach our base of operations, and we have all the resources that we could want. Even if you could reach it, there's no way for you to get in."

"What is the long-term play for the UNSC, Captain?" Hackett asked curiously to the bold simplicity of his extra-universal diplomatic counterpart.

Lasky frowned at the older Admiral and Wrex's curious expression, "Win the war…"

"I mean after that, Captain. If we win, I mean."

Lasky naturally pinched his chin in a show of thought, despite the obvious answer in his mind, "Find a way back to our reality, and if we can't…" He paused and thought of the Master Chief and their latest conversation about the Mantle of Responsibility mindset that the Chief had taken onboard. "Bring peace to the galaxy."

 **June 28** **th** **– Palaven  
**

"These guys are real testy, Shepard!" Joker called in a half-joking voice from the cockpit.

Shepard hurried away from the CIC down the gantry to loom over Joker's shoulder to see what he was seeing. Just as he stooped to see several battle groups of Turian cruisers moving to flank them, an angry voice called through Joker's console, "You will power down your kinetic barriers and weapons, or we will fire upon you!"

"Do what they say," Shepard ordered quietly and dropped into the co-pilot chair to answer the radio order, just as Garrus and his sister, Solana, bounded to a halt behind them. "This is Alliance Commander Shepard of the Normandy, Turian Cruiser. We are powering down our barriers and weapons as instructed. We are here as a diplomatic mission to try and rebuild relations before the Reapers arrive."

A moment of silence passed, and they all keened their eyes as one of the cruisers in the group of eighteen around them peeled off and moved in for a docking procedure, "Understood, Commander. Prepare to be boarded for inspection and questioning."

"You heard them, Joker." Shepard sighed in exasperation as he lifted himself back out of the chair.

"Aye, aye," Joker answered, keeping his eyes focused on the display showing the proximity of the Turian cruiser as Shepard stopped in front of the airlock.

Garrus and Solana flanked him and gave him all too familiar seeking expressions. "What's the plan, Commander?"

Shepard looked at his long-time friend and comrade with an ironic smile, "Play? We do what they tell us and try and get them to play nice."

"Commander," Solena implored, "These aren't the same Turian's as months ago, the entire Hierarchy is afraid. Don't try anything at all or they'll execute us and take the Normandy."

Shepard didn't offer a response to the all too true warning. He straightened as Joker called to get ready before the airlock hissed and slid open. He found himself instantly face to face with the muzzle of an Avenger assault rifle before noting all of the present Turians were armed and ready with their weapons trained on Shepard, Garrus, and Solana.

Shepard didn't express any fear, however, and looked calmly at the only Turian who didn't have his weapon raised, "Welcome aboard the Normandy," He said with the absence of identification, thanks to the seamless jet black armour that he and all of his squad wore.

A scoff sounded through the helmet's external speakers, and the Turian reached up to remove it. He swung it behind his back and magnetically fixed it to his lower back and looked Shepard up and down dismissively before giving Garrus and Solana a dirty sneer each.

"I am here to ascertain the purpose of you being here, and the remove any possible threat to the Hierarchy," The Turian Commander curtly explained, walking past the one in the lead who's rifle was still mere centimetres away from Shepard's forehead.

He walked passed the three and looked approvingly at Joker keeping his hands in the air from the cockpit before rounding back on Garrus, "Vakarian, former C-Sec, former vigilante' hitman, now enemy conspirator," He said with an air of threat, "Are you here to assassinate someone?"

Garrus quickly gave a single shake of the head, "No sir, Commander Shepard asked for my presence to help translate Turian customs to ease any diplomatic discussion."

"Hmmm, and you, female Vakarian," He spoke without sounding convinced, facing Solana now.

"Our entire family line is from Palaven," She said with barely contained anger, "You don't get to call us traitors when you're the one turning on our allies."

"Allies? You mean the ones who turned against us? Then rejected us from Citadel space under threat of war and enforced a trade embargo," He ranted with mounting anger.

Solana frowned in confusion and frustration, but before she could bite back a sharp retort to argue the contrary Shepard called the attention back to himself, "I am happy for your team to board the Normandy and observe the crew while we discuss our diplomatic mission with your Captain."

The unnamed Turian gave Solana a lingering sneer before righting the expression into being one of controlled disdain as he stepped back around to stand in front of the iconic Alliance marine. "Ahh of course," He waved a finger in the direction of the CIC, "First squad, move in and take any non-essential personnel prisoner and keep them on their knees in the hold, call in Second Squad and have them keep an eye over the essential crew."

"Yes, sir!" The one who still had his rifle sticking in Shepard's face yelled before slowly lowering his weapon and marching off down the gantry, the rest of the squad besides two falling in behind him.

A chink of metal on metal drew Shepard's eyes back to the Turian Commander and the shackles held casually in his hands, "Cuff yourself," he ordered casually and threw them to Shepard. He frowned in mild frustration, and the Turian produced his Paladin pistol from his hip and casually pointed it at Shepard's gut.

Shepard wiped all the emotion from his face and proceeded to wrap the metal shackles around his wrists just as the two soldiers who'd remained cuffed his two Turian comrades. The leader nodded in mild approval, "This way," He ordered and turned on his heel to walk back along the umbilical.

Shepard naturally fell into step behind him, and the two soldiers stepped behind Garrus and Solana to ensure they moved as directed. They all did move as suggested and followed into the Turian ship. None of them were surprised to find the interior looked very similar to the Normandy, besides a generally darker tone to things.

They followed the leader around several turns in the corridor until they reached a door as plain as all of the ones before had been. The leader keyed a control button, and the door opened, he prompted them through, and they stepped in, "Take a seat," he ordered, and they did, walking around the narrow table to three of the ten available seats.

"Hands out," He ordered, and they again complied.

This time, the two soldiers first approached Shepard and un-cuffed him before forcing his wrists into the arms of the chair and quickly wrapping a previously hidden strap around his wrists to secure him in place. Shepard offered little resistance to push the diplomatic image that he was here to represent.

He gave both Solana and Garrus an imploring look as the soldiers finished with him and moved on to them. They likewise offered no resistance and were equally tied down within minutes. "The Captain is on the way; in the meantime, we'll run a test."

"A test?" Garrus asked uncertainly.

The leader smiled sardonically at them, and his omni-tool activated. He jabbed a control and the three seated bodies seised up and began jolting in uncontrolled muscular spasms as the chair sent spikes of electricity into them. Shepard clenched his jaw and did his best to control his muscles and stay silent, despite being able to hear Solana and Garrus on either side of him yelping in pain and the impacts of their bodies lurching against their chairs.

Then the electricity stopped, and the three fell back into their chairs, panting heavily and honing their eyes onto their captor.

"Ahh good, it works, this will make sure you're honest with the Captain."

As though on cue, the door slid open, and a Turian in the typical blue and gold armour of his rank stepped in. He frowned momentarily at the panting trio in the chairs before giving the squad leader a disapproving look, "I am Captain Valeris Suril, I have been informed that you have surrendered and will divulge your mission parameters in coming here."

Shepard wanted to curse the idiocy of the word choice. But he settled for taking a deep breath to reinvigorate his body and straightening back up, "Captain, I am Commander John Shepard of the Systems Alliance, I was sent here on a diplomatic mission to make contact with the Turian Hierarchy and re-establish a dialogue before the Reapers arrive."

"Ahhh," Valeris drawled out slowing while raising his fingers into an all too familiar quotation gesture, "Reapers." He said with venom. "So you've convinced the entire council of your little hoax now?"

"Hoax!" Solana laughed in amazement before catching a chilling look from her brother and silencing herself.

"No, Sir." Shepard caught himself, "Respectfully, my mission orders are to offer the Normandy as a place for you to talk with the new allied council via the QEC about the trade embargos being lifted and opening up space for civilian and military cooperation again."

"Ahhh, the Normandy," Valeris hummed thoughtfully, "A beautiful ship, the Alliance took advantage of Turian generosity to steal our technology."

"Steal!" Garrus roared, "The Alliance are –were- our allies! We offered our knowledge freely and worked together with Humanity, we were all the better off for it."

The Turian who'd walked them in answered Garrus's anger with a quick application of directed electricity. "You will speak to the Captain with respect, traitor!"

The three were given another reprieve from the electrical torture method and heaved in their chairs, trying to draw oxygen back into their bodies. "Captain," Shepard wheezed breathlessly around a throaty cough, "I swear on my career as a Marine that we are here for a peaceful negotiation!"

"Yet you come here with your most advanced stealth warship?" Valeris said.

Shepard's mouth gaped slightly at the ridiculousness of that rhetorical question and peered from Solana and Garrus to their captor. "We came in with our stealth drives offline, with our transponder signalling you, we followed your orders and lowered our shields and even welcomed your men onboard!"

"You might be able to twist the vapid Asari, and the greedy Salarians with this kind of talk, but not the Tur-" Valeris cut short his angry response as the lights in the room switched from white to dull flashing red and a siren sounded over the intercom.

A moment later and the door opened followed by the immediate cacophony of fully automatic rifle fire. Shepard, Solana and Garrus all flinched but sat helplessly where they were tied as a Turian in blue and red armour rushed in and put two more rounds in each of his downed people.

"Commander Shepard!" He gasped in a mature and shocked voice.

Shepard narrowed his eyes at the newcomer and the fashion as which he'd entered, before noticing back in the hallway that there were at least a dozen other armed Turians and that he could hear gunfire from down the corridor. "Who are you?" He asked defensively.

"My name's General Adrien Victus, I'm here to get you out of here," The General declared, rushing forward to Shepard first to unstrap his wrists.

Catching the confused and concerned look on Shepard's face before moving to Garrus, Victus started talking again, "You've got no idea what you've walked into, do you?"

"Clearly not, General," Shepard said mildly, sparing another concerned glance at the Turians standing guard outside at the sound of another gunfight.

The General moved to Solana last and made short work of her ties before quickly stalking to the door and gesturing for them to follow. "Since the Council fell apart, the Hierarchy has been getting more aggressive than ever, but about a month ago a fleet was wiped out by an unknown force-" He paused as one of the guards spoke to him.

"We've secured the bridge, General, but there are holdouts all over the ship, and the rest of the fleet is still putting up a fight."

Victus nodded and glanced at Shepard's group, "Follow me, we're getting you back to the Normandy, and you're getting out of here."

Shepard, Garrus, and Solana didn't even have time to nod in agreement before Victus was racing down the passage that they'd come from to what could have been the room of their death's minutes earlier. They followed the passageway around until arriving back at the airlock to a squad of more blue and red armoured Turians, clearly loyal to the General.

With a few silent gestures, and clearly speaking over their intercom within their helmets, he sent them into the Normandy to clear out the hostiles. He glanced back at the three again before walking more casually along the umbilical into the Normandy and gesturing them along. "Since that fleet was wiped out, it was like a switch was flicked. Former councillor Sparatus called in a lot of votes of no-confidence for many respected members of the Hierarchy council and replaced them with extremists. It's like the entire Hierarchy went mad after that…" He trailed off as Shepard rushed by and went to the cockpit.

"I'm all good, Commander!" A voice called from where Shepard was headed.

Shepard halted and turned back toward Victus, "So what do you need us to do?"

Victus looked from Shepard's confused expression to Garrus and Solana's angry ones. "Nothing…" He paused, considering the question. "I'm leading a resistance, I guess you could say that the Turian Hierarchy has just entered a civil war. Our leaders might have cut us off, but we're not stupid, we know how seriously the rest of the galaxy is taking this Reaper threat, I can't ask any of your allies to waste ships or resources trying to help us when you have such an enemy."

"General, would you happen to know a man called Castis?" Garrus stepped in with worry etched on his face.

To Garrus's surprise, he nodded immediately, "Your father sought me out with information about a month and a half ago, and we started preparing, he's leading a more gentle political movement on Palaven to sway the public into siding with us."

"By the Spirits…" Solana sighed, then looked at her brother with an ironic scoff of laughter, "To think Father is leading a political rebellion!"

Garrus returned the short laugh with a shake of his head, "Not by the book this time."

"Not at all," Victus agreed just as his squad returned down the gantry and his head moved in nods as he did a head count, "Report!"

"Just two holding the crew prisoner in the hold, no casualties," One of the Turians in the lead reported.

"Commander," Victus started, looking from his squad to Shepard and stepping forward with an outstretched hand, "Stay out of our war, don't waste your forces. They don't know who we are yet, and they don't know that just about all black ops forces are on our side."

Shepard took the Turian's hand in a shake and nodded, "Understood, General. Good luck."

They held the grasp a moment longer before the General gestured his squad out and followed after them with this rifle shouldered again. The airlock slid shut, and a moment later Joker called from the cockpit, "Umbilical detached, leaving the system right freaking now!"

A long sigh heaved from Shepard's chest, and he gave Garrus and Solana a long confused look.

Garrus and Solana returned the look before a slight smirk took Solana's features, "Guess we failed our mission?" She chuckled shortly.

Shepard scoffed, and Garrus let a full roll of laughter well from his chest, "Bit too soon for that, Sis."

 **July 17** **th** **– Earth  
**

"How're we looking?"

"Hmm?" Halsey hummed back in response from her stooped position over a holographic table, not bothering to look up from the report that she was studying.

Anderson drew up beside her and bent to see what she was doing and quirked his brow in confusion to the rotating genetic structures before him. "How are things looking for the Alliance?" He asked more slowly this time.

Halsey looked up from the genetic strand that she was studying to the Alliance Admiral before glancing at the broad window that gave them a view over Vancouver. "Things are looking good if that's what you mean?"

Anderson laughed at the simple response and had learnt by now that if Halsey gave a simple response, it was likely thanks to her wanting to go back to her research. "Can you please gave me a rundown of all active developments?"

She released a long and hard sigh, making his prediction clear, and she turned to face him fully. "Tuchanka's biosphere is recovering, and the Krogan people are doing surprisingly well adapting to all becoming Urdnot," Halsey said and swiped at the display she'd been working on, clearing it and bringing up a table full of virtual reports.

"The Salarians and Asari are mounting external MACs on most of their ships fairly well and have increased their fleet and military spending since we arrived by a factor of ten, they've also made the Reaper invasion public knowledge, and dozens of private organisations are actively volunteering to serve our cause. The Quarians have successfully resettled Tummel, on Rannoch, and have completed their fleet with our help, our resources have returned to Erda to continue working on our new flagship. We have established a colony of Quarians, Asari, Salarians and Alliance on Erda as an extinction event precaution." She halted and turned to regard the display again.

"Sounds like everything couldn't be going better," Anderson smiled slightly at the good news.

"Almost," Halsey agreed, swiping at the display again and bringing up a display of Earth's orbit. "I predict that when the Reapers arrive, they'll attack homeworlds first, I don't think your fleet strength or defences will hold up for long."

"So we move more of our fleets here-"

"-No!" She interrupted. "Your entire fleet wouldn't be able to take on these Reapers, going by the intel. If you position your entire fleet here, they'll be wasted if there's a full invasion," She crinkled her nose in frustration and paced to the window to look down on the peaceful city below.

"When it comes down to it, things aren't going well…" Halsey sighed in frustration, "Things never do… We have an unknown Covenant force out there somewhere. The Turians have broken down into full civil war from the looks of things, and not one single home planet in the milky way is prepared for a full-scale invasion. And I thought our Earth was under-prepared back home…"

Anderson pursed his lips before calming his expression and moving to stand beside the UNSC's foremost scientist who'd spent the past two weeks on Earth improving their orbital defence nets efficiency. "Tell me about what kind of Covenant might be here?"

Halsey clenched her fist in anger at the name, "Mahkee reported that it was a single weapon firing that wiped out those Turians, which means one ship, and that planet in the Traverse which was glassed has financial ties to that Cerberus group. For some reason, they've focused on Cerberus and the Turians, which means they know something that we don't."

"What can we do to find them? Or stop them?" Anderson offered.

Halsey glanced at Anderson with a sad glint in her eye. She'd gone over all the known data, and as far as she could tell, the ship was either vastly huge or vastly powerful or both. She shook her head, "Nothing, just stay vigilant and call for help if anyone sees them."

Anderson frowned at the submissive answer, and it helped paint the picture of what the Human-Covenant war would have been in his mind. Of course, he'd spoken to any UNSC people who could about it and had been supplied their recorded history to study, but seeing first-hand reactions were always far more telling for him.

"Everything will be fine, Earth will be safe, and hopefully one day you'll even be able to go home," Anderson said lamely.

Halsey gave him a sideways glance and read the deep concern hidden in his eyes too, and she instantly thought of her Spartan. "Everything will be fine," She conceded with just the tiniest amount of hope hanging on in her heart.

 **August 12** **th** **– Erda  
**

As always, the weather around the small city built beneath Erda's portal was perfect. A soft, cool breeze blew dried leaves through warm air and carried the sounds of people from all races working, laughing, and learning together. John found himself yet again, enjoying the sensation of being free from his armour and merely wearing his gel layer suit with utility trousers just as Sarah, Olympia, and Buck were to his left and right.

"Gotta say, things are looking kinda okay from here," Buck hummed with a smile and gave a sarcastically dainty wave to a group of passing female officers.

Olympia smiled and elbowed the former ODST in the side playfully, "Why don't you wave at me like that?" She asked teasingly.

Sarah laughed, and John smirked as Buck sniggered, "Because broken fingers mean I can't wave at girls like them."

Olympia smiled innocently, "Who said I'd break your fingers?"

Buck smirked at the banter and nodded to a trio of Alliance officers who were doing their best –and failing- to use their positions to try and flirt with two unsuited Quarian women. "At least I'm not like them," He said with a quiet laugh.

John withheld a smile as they walked past the encounter just as the eldest of the two Quarians gave the most visible eye roll he'd ever seen. Sarah and Olympia each withheld their laughs at it, but Buck didn't bother as a bout of laughter erupted from him, and the Alliance officers glanced his way in embarrassment.

"But things are looking okay," Sarah agreed as a convoy of Warthogs rolled by moving cargo and personnel.

"Yeah," Olympia said in agreement. Then noded to a stretch of grass across the metallic compound road where a massive shipping container had been adapted into a kitchen with a serving window with several dozen chairs arranged on the grass, "And having Asari here sure has been a bit of a boost to the food culture." She said just as one of the Asari in question skipped from a side door in the container turned café to bring a tray of steaming teacups out to a squad of UNSC marines waiting patiently.

"Hard to believe a galaxy-wide war is about to start, looking around this place," Buck agreed.

"I don't know what you mean," John called, directing their gazes back to him a bit ahead of them and being waved through the Spartan checkpoint by Majestic squad.

Each member of sword team gave the on-duty Spartans nods of greeting as they passed and headed uphill over the road through a thick grove of trees with a thick canopy. Sarah quickened her pace into a brief jog and caught up with John, "Have you been thinking about Blue Team again?"

Sarah wanted to kick herself for her question; she didn't consider herself a chatty person, but being on John's team she wanted to know the man better, and she wasn't a skilled conversationalist and found herself bringing up the wrong points more often than not.

John glanced her way and caught the regretful look that Sarah tried to cover, "If they're in some kind of Cryptum then they're fine. I'll get to them one day. I've mostly just been thinking about how long this fight will be."

Sarah nodded, thankful for him reacting to the sensitive question well, "If intel is anything to go by, it'll be a long fight. There are lots of these Reaper things."

They crested the hill, and the trees ended suddenly, basking them in the warm glow of the sun again. The forest and hill that had shielded the construction site from the city was surprisingly good at doing the opposite too, as not a single decibel of noise of all the lifeforms living in the small city they'd just departed about a kilometre behind them met followed through the forest.

"At least we'll be able to pack a punch," John said, looking down at the thirty-kilometre long construction in the valley below.

"A hell of a goddam punch," Buck agreed as he and Olympia stopped beside John and Sarah.

"The Imperium, good name," Olympia said.

John nodded silently and watched a swarm of thousands of constructors sweep along the complete section of the hull nearest them to the complete looking engines on the back. They all disappeared into tiny gaps in the hull to their assigned tasks, and he looked closer to see all the personnel on scaffolds around the ship with crane units moving massive sheets of metal up to them to fix into place.

"The biggest ship in UNSC history," John said, looking from the almost completed aft to the halfway completed front end where the housing for the new generation plasma cannons was being constructed. "After we're done with the Reapers, we'll go for the Guardians."


	14. Chapter 14

**Got my writing groove back! So here's another chapter fairly quickly. Some of the weapon outputs in this are semi guessed based off canon facts, the Infinity's shield capacity for example, which I based roughly off the Escalation comic where she's shot through with a Covenant energy projector. Need to make a proper habit of editing. I gave this a super cursory glance over before I had to get back to work restocking ma' biz.**

 **Already on to Chapter Fifteen as well, so hopefully that will be online by the end of next week.  
**

**Review responses:**

 **Athran:** Thanks! The preparation phase has come to an end for the story. Nitty gritty invasion time!

 **TheDarkChronist:** Hmmm didn't think of possible autocratic implications for that name… I was just going off the common occurrence of Latin in naming things for the UNSC, and Imperium means power, and it is a 30km long ship so it seemed fitting. Just a future spoiler for the veeeeery end, I won't make the story an eventual fight against the Guardians, that will remain as being implied.  
Hahaha the joys of owning your own company! I'm in the process of expanding my company into a new factory and automating as much as possible to increase productivity and improve time requirements. But until that's all done, it means more work than ever just to get it across the line. All a learning experience though. Despite complaining all the time, I do love it. I just need like two or three weeks off. My Christmas holiday was one week off where I still made product just didn't ship it or respond to work emails.

 **Daisy Rhine:** It was as restful as it could have been! :) I'm finally beginning the invasion in this chapter.

 **Chapter Fourteen  
.:: The Veil Falls ::.**

 **September 21/ 2186 – Earth  
**

' _A letter for your consideration,_

 _Dear UNSC Expeditionary leader, Master Chief  
~ Forwarded document to: Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity~_

 _If we had never considered an in-depth exploration of Mars, then we would never have discovered the Prothean Archives there, and it is entirely possible that we would not have discovered Mass Effect science. This opens up the distinct possibility that we, like you, our United Nations Space Command allied Humanity from a whole different reality, could have very possibly discovered how to interact with this Slip-Space dimension that you use to travel the galaxy. There might have been no first contact war, and we might not have even been noticed by the Reapers from having activated our local Relay.  
The possibilities offered by the mere presence of the UNSC are endless, and horrifying in how they exhibit how easily we followed the evolutionary path desired by the Reapers. And these facts collating together hint at a far greater truth, to which I believe you may be aware of to an extent.  
I, however, see and know a great deal about adapting our sciences. I worked for years doing so for the Illusive Man for the gain of Cerberus. That may have been Salarian and Asari technologies and not UNSC, but it was advanced technology all the same, and I submit myself as a skilled and fast learner, able to take orders when needed.  
I sincerely hope that I am considered for placement on a UNSC vessel or facility to offer my utmost in progressing humankind and helping defeat the Reapers.  
Sincerely,  
-Miranda Lawson  
\- Former SSV Normandy XO' _

Lasky hummed in thought at the virtual letter open in his communication pad and reclined his captain's chair somewhat to rub his chin. He'd become the victim of an endless intake of letters of submission to work with or for the UNSC in some or any capacity since the going public about who the UNSC was and what technologies they possessed months ago, and what role they were now playing within this strange yet familiar Mass Effect powered Milky Way.

In truth, he admired all these people from across the galaxy and felt inspired by their desire to work aboard his ship. But that admiration for their zeal did nothing to relieve his disdain for this task of sifting through documents to fish out details of individuals to see if they were a good match to being rostered aboard the Infinity, Strident One, or Erda.

As the letter was titled, it was originally destined for the Master Chief's viewing. And it was thanks to both the Spartan's public image and the Asari Shadow Broker that when the UNSC had gone public, all contact had been forwarded accurately to him for his consideration.

In the weeks following that initial happening, Lasky had on multiple occasions checked in via tac-net channels with Spartan Palmer. She informed him, with a barely contained smile, which had at the time confused him, and with a laugh in the background that he now knew belonged to Edward Buck. That John –as she and all the crew aboard Strident One now called the Master Chief- was giving a directive to have all communication intended for UNSC application forwarded directly to Lasky.

Lasky had heard tell over his entire career, between news of the Master Chief's legendary victories or status in general, that he had a quiet, reserved, and dry sense of humour. Of course, through those years, he didn't know whether or not to believe that rumour, besides knowing well enough from his first meeting the Chief and Blue Team, that the Spartans were definitely human.

And since re-meeting him with the introduction of the threat of the Didact, he'd seen more and more of the legendary man's humanity come out. But he felt that it was this event that exposed the truth to the Spartan's reserved humour.

Lasky had nodded his acceptance of what Sarah was telling him and replied along the lines of looking forward to reading any and all eager applications. He'd not been able to imagine there being more than a couple of hundred. Then several hours later, his personal email inbox exploded with thousands of new messages –he was yet to learn how Liara, the Asari information dealer, had acquired his address.

In his shock at the mass of messages, he'd done his best to look through as many as he could initially. The greatest lesson was that for as many time wasters as there were, there were potentially just as many truly good opportunities to be grasped.

The next greatest lesson for the UNSC Captain were the cultural and practical differences between the UNSC's way of looking at things and the paradigm shifts Mass Effect galaxy way of looking at things, and he'd opened up a new position aboard the Infinity to deal with it.

Day to day life since arriving had generally been dominated by where and what next. Which diplomatic front needed to be crossed, which alien fleet needed tending, where were resources needed the most, and how to stay on top of the war preparations. But between those days were long stretches of unavoidable inactivity, which had lead him to open up a new position in his crew which could only be filled by someone native to this reality.

"Sooooo," A familiar feminine and playful voice called from over Lasky's shoulder. "What do you think? She could do with some attitude changes, but definitely would be a good worker."

Lasky spared a glanced over his shoulder to the former master thief turned master recruiter, "Kasumi, didn't all the reports say that she served Cerberus for her entire life?"

Kasumi clicked her tongue and rounded his chair before perching her behind on the holographic tactical table and palming the controls that she'd learnt with utmost efficiency since arriving. Two displays of Miranda Lawson grew on the tabletop; one of her clad in the seductive white and black leather suit of her early Normandy days.  
The other being decidedly different with her dressed in cargo pants with contoured metal armour plates sewn into the thighs, shins and rear, and an armoured vest with webbing covered in weapons and ammunition.

All of her former sex appeal had been shorn off, almost literally, with her hair now looking more like what the UNSC would want; cut short so that it could be tied back in a neat and trim ponytail, which when untied couldn't be longer than shoulder length.

"She gave the Illusive Man a very, very," Kasumi paused and turned from the display to give a dramatic spread of her arms to Lasky, "Veeeery, public and personal rejection to side with Sheppy-boy. She's been freelancing for barely enough to get by for refuge groups these past few months. I'd say she's worth a tick of approval."

Lasky stroked his clean-shaven chin thoughtfully and gave the bridge a quick check over to make sure everything was still in tip-top shape. He looked at the bridge crew giving their instruments their utmost attention and then to the view beyond the hardened glass that protected them from the vacuum of space.

They were holding orbit above the Alliance Capital city of Vancouver and had arrived a week earlier for two tasks; retrieve Catherine Halsey from her work improving the defence network of Earth, and drop off and install three super MACs, built at Halsey's request to bolster the human homeworld's defensive capability.

Lasky rose from his chair and flicked his wrist, sliding his comm pad onto the holo-table, and all of its contained information automatically rose up onto the three-dimensional display.

"Come on, Cap! My Lasky-boy!" Kasumi whined playfully with a hint of frustration. "How many good ones have I brought to you?"

Lasky took a few steps further to one of his ensign's stations that displayed all the active ships in Earth orbit and watched the Alliance battle groups move in regular patrol formations. He was glad to see such strong fleet presence here but equally glad that this was only about half the Alliance fleet, that if Catherine was correct and the Reapers would focus their initial attention onto homeworlds if it were a slaughter, there would still be plenty of fleet strength available elsewhere.

"You've brought me lots of good ones," Lasky conceded to Kasumi, turning to face her as he tried to do a mental count. She had indeed brought him many good personnel, and it was her who was the shadowy yay or naysayer behind all non-UNSC personnel who were posted to Erda.

She'd been amazingly proficient in sifting through all of the applicants, from initially filtering out all of the junk emails that usually amounted to trying to sell Krogan sexual drugs, to leaving the massive pile of emails being only ones of serious note.

From there, she'd worked them into categories of priority based on the individual's skills, background, usefulness or whatever else in-between, and then when she'd focused enough personal attention on any number of them, would make her selections and bring them to Lasky's attention for his final say.

There had been many Alliance civilians, a large percentage of which were former service members in some capacity, who had wanted to renounce their ties to the Alliance and sign up with the UNSC. After a long discussion with the Alliance government, they had allowed that to proceed with surprising ease, quoting that the ultimate goal was the survival of Humanity.

But there had also been a great many who had wanted to serve along with the UNSC as a representation of the Alliance, and just as many from the other species. And operation Genisis had been Kasumi's brainchild. The premise was simple; save more than just the biological thing that people were, save their culture too. So working with Captain Lasky, Catherine Halsey, and the newly anointed Governor O'Shanesy of Erda, they had created small colony profiles to be built around the growing UNSC city in Erda where Civilians from all races of the galaxy could live in support of the colony and in testament to ongoing survival.

For the most part, it had been massively successful. The only hitch in the plan had been the initial application of it and the Master Chief insisting on personally vetting the Quarian involvement. Once more, for the most part, that had proceeded perfectly, but his personal invested opinion of the young Quarian admiral had proven to have its drawbacks.

Lasky had read the reports that Admiral Tali'Zorah had proven troublesome in briefings both on Rannoch and then furthermore on Erda. He wasn't to know of Kasumi's sources, but the stealthy woman had explained that it was likely due to Tali having a romantic interest in the Master Chief, and what she described as his ultimate rejection of her.

That had surprised Lasky, he'd never even thought a Spartan capable of affection or romantic, emotional connection, at least not much until then, and that concept had fit readily into his already expanding view on the Spartan II's.

But the problem had solved itself fairly quickly, with Admiral Daro'Xen repeatedly submitting her candidacy for Tali's position, and Tali's little rebellion getting her a ride on the Infinity back to Rannoch on a scheduled overseeing of the completion of their fleet.

As expected, thanks to the sheer efficiency of Roland's fragments of himself and the UNSC's control of the Forerunner Constructors; when they'd arrived, it had been to the sight of all twenty new Quarian cruisers orbiting. Each split into their own battlegroup with over twenty of their old frigates and cruisers swarming around them as fire support.

The Infinity had docked with the nearest of the newly completed MAC network, now serving as the Quarians orbital command centre, and after the customary diplomatic jargon had been passed around. Lasky had essentially traded Tali for Daro and returned to Erda by way of stopping by at Thessia to collect another wave of Asari UNSC colony recruits.

"Miranda, frankly, is a massive bitch," Kasumi said with a smile that wasn't playful for once. "Bitch though she may be, she's a bitch who gets things done."

Lasky wanted to relax into what he called 'civilian mode' so that he could laugh at that, but it equally contended with the professional soldier and officer in him, so he settled for a diplomatically amused smile, "So she's just enough of a bitch to get things done?"

Kasumi scoffed, "One way to put it…" She paused and laughed in memory at the confrontations Miranda instigated then ignored aboard the Normandy, "Let me find a job for her on Erda in a research role. She's actually incredibly smart but has always been used as a weapon, I don't think she realises how much she could get done as a researcher."

"So she has formal training?" Lasky asked with an arched brow. He rounded on his com-pad again and flicked the display down the assembled profile. "Didn't she mostly just 'manage,'" He said with quotation fingers, "These research projects and threaten or kill anyone not as smart or motivated as needed?"

Kasumi nodded, "But initially, from what I could get out of Liara's sources, she was a researcher, and she had the bells and whistles for her education. I think the Illusive Man wanted her to be pushed into a more violent path so she wouldn't question as much."

Lasky pressed his lips into a thin line, he wasn't one to invite potentially dangerous individuals into his forces without serious vetting. He frowned as the only remaining question to validate Miranda came to mind, "Chief knew her…"

"Hmmm," Kasumi agreed patiently.

"What did he think of her?"

Kasumi's eyes twinkled in amusement, "I don't think he liked her at all! But, I do believe he respected her and trusted her to an extent."

"Sir!"

One of the ensigns called, cutting what Kasumi had been about to say off and bringing Lasky's eyes around.

Glancing back to his Captain, the ensign continued, "Picking something up on long-range scanners coming from out-system."

Lasky grit his teeth in a wave of pre-battle anxiety that instantly crashed through him. "Roland, does it match any sigs? Are there any scheduled arrivals today?"

The AI's avatar emerged from the holo-table, and he drew up a display of Earth and the ships surrounding her, "No Captain, all I can tell is that it's a fleet of substantial size."

Lasky leaned closer to the display, he looked closely at the green triangle representing the Infinity sitting just shy of the three other smaller green squares of the super MACs, then at the four swarms of fifty blue triangles representing Alliance ships in their formations likewise around the daylight side of the planet.

He reached into the display and gestured with his hands. The display grew smaller and showed a red mass of static, indicating the lack of clear readings racing toward Earth from the direction of Mass Relay. He observed it for a moment longer before making up his mind and reaching for his intercom, "All hands! Battlestations now!" The lights in the bridge instantly shifted to red, and a new wave of alertness rolled through the postures of all those on the bridge.

Lasky kept his eyes glued on the display, speaking to Roland as he did his best to predict whatever was about to happen, "Roland, give me Hackett or Anderson."

As he spoke, he saw the blue triangles on the display moving toward the Infinity, clearly having picked up something on their sensors too.

"You're picking up inbound?" Hackett's grizzly voice asked over the bridge comms.

"We certainly are, Admiral. ETA looks like three minutes," Lasky dictated back from the numbers counting down in front of him. "Unknown force size, I recommend drawing three of your fleets between the MACs and posting one forward with the Infinity."

"Understood Captain, think this is them?"

Lasky instantly knew who Hackett meant by, 'them,' and nodded to himself and Kasumi who was watching him with keen and wide eyes, "Yes Admiral, I do. Are you taking precautions to evacuate your council?"

"Shepard's onto it," Hackett said. "I've just opened up all line of sight data networks for Roland to give emergency orders should he need."

"Thanks, Admiral. I'll only control weapons targeting systems if I need," Roland replied.

"Captain!" The same ensign from before called. "Reaper ships arriving! I'm reading six hundred of their capital class ships and nine hundred smaller classes."

"Shit," Lasky cursed beneath his breath at the sheer strength of the enemy fleet that arrived. "Heat up all four MACs, detonate the nuclear mines as soon as they're in range and prepare all Howler and Rapier missile batteries."

A chorus of aye-ayes answer him, and he reached for the intercom control again, this time selecting the fleet wide option. "Reaper fleet is approaching at sublight speeds from fifty thousand klicks, Alliance fleets' two to four, hold position around the MACs and defend them. Fleet one on the Infinity, we'll advance as soon as they've hit the minefield."

 **XX**

 **Thessia – Synchronous orbit above Armali. Local time: 4 AM.**

 **XX**

"All Stridents, stay close to us, only target one at a time and fire in waves of two!" John ordered over the tactical network to the nine other Commanders whose ships were racing toward the fight in formation around his ship.

A series of green lights flicked in acknowledgement to his order, and he glanced from his display to the forward view screen to see one of the Strident's come dangerously close to his own. He glanced forward again and saw the flashes of light in the almost pitch black space as explosions from Asari ordinance impacted the massive hulls of the Reapers and Asari ships detonated from overwhelming firepower.

"Targets, sir?" Ensign Lovell asked calmly.

John felt a spike of pride at his crew's calmness in the face of the overwhelming battle they were charging straight toward. "Locate the Destiny Ascension."

"I've got her," Basset instantly answered from her station. "She's performing evasive manoeuvres; looks like three Sovereign-class Reapers are after her."

"Fleet, we're covering the Destiny Ascension, target the nearest of her pursuers and time your opening salvo after the lead two Stridents," John dictated over the tactical net.

Lovell acted instantly, and the Destiny Ascension's aquatic looking hull lit up in green on the glass before the three Sovereign-class Reapers firing at her from fifteen to thirty klicks away lit up in red. "Firing solutions ready, Sir," Lovell reported calmly.

"Fire!" John ordered.

A low whine vibrated from the walls at a touch of a button at Lovell's station, and John's display showed Strident Two firing her MAC a moment later. Two seconds passed, and the next two Stridents fired, then the next two, then the next, and then the remaining two.

By the time each ship had fired within two minutes Lovell had called, "MAC fully charged, all shots hit but minimal damage."

"Fire again," John ordered and pushed his hand into his holographic display, expanding the ships listed weapons systems. The ship whined again at the second MAC salvo as he expanded the HAVOK nuke systems, "How are we looking on using the HAVOKs?"

"Not possible with the Asari fleet in such close range, Sir," Haverson said.

"Reaper destroyed!" Lovell said with a quiet grin following the impact of Strident Two's MAC round which punched clear through the centre of mass of the sentient ship in a gout of fire and glistening shards of molten metal.

"Target the second Reaper, distance to target?"

The tactical net display showed Stridents three and four immediately firing as they drew closer to the fight between the local Asari defenders and the invaders. "Eight thousand klicks from the main fight sir, we've got the first capital kill," Haverson said.

"And it looked like they're not too happy with us for it," Sarah muttered from behind John's chair.

John followed her line of thought immediately, as the display shifted to show over fifty of the smaller destroyer class Reapers pulling away from their former Asari targets and moving to pursue the Stridents. "Sensors show their weapons are heating up, Sir. Evasive?" Haverson asked.

The only victory in the pursuit for the UNSC was that they were giving the Asari ships a slightly higher chance of survival.

"No, I want to see what kind of damage they could deal to us. Stay on target for the second Reaper," John said, imparting his calm confidence to his crew and the crew of the other Strident's whose communication systems had been patched into his bridge.

"Firing," Lovell automatically called as the MAC reached full again.

This time, they were close enough to the target that when their shot timed perfectly with Two's shot tore the Reaper ship into jagged chunks. "Two down," Lovell said with a grin reflected from the glass in front of him. "Targeting the third."

"Incoming from the Destiny Ascension," Basset called and automatically putting the signal through to John's command station.

"Master Chief! Thank you for your support, we weren't sure if you'd still be in the system and couldn't find you on sensors," Matriarch Lidanya beamed in a mixture of fear and relief. "The Zealous Enlightenment, our sister ship, should be departing Armali any moment with the Matriarchs."

John nodded and withheld his desire to done his helmet magnetically held on the arm of his chair in stead of remaining as vulnerable as his crew to support them. "How's your fleet holding up?"

Lidanya immediately grimaced, "Not well. I scattered our other dreadnoughts present immediately to preserve them for future tactical engagements, but we've already lost half our frigates, we hadn't even scratched any of their capital ships until you showed up!"

John frowned at that but didn't regret it. He'd lead the Strident escort fleet to Thessia for the singular purpose of overseeing the departure of a fleet of civilian carriers headed for the Citadel, the rendezvous point for all Erda colonists before being ferried by the Infinity.

The last of the ships had departed just hours earlier from the daylight side of the planet just as the Reapers arrived in system and immediately attacked the defending fleet who'd managed to mobilise to prevent any immediate landings.

"Third Reaper in pursuit down, Reaper Destroyers beginning to fire on Six and Seven," Lovell reported.

"Shields down sixty percent from three impacts, Howler's away," Commander Hull dictated over the shared communications channel.

John momentarily looked away from Lidanya's concerned visage to where Haverson seemed to be divining John's order before he said it, "Move to shield Six! Lovell, fire on all targets within missile lock distance."

The two seamlessly did as orders as the ship came about and an icon next to Lidanya's display showed the firing of sixty missiles.

"Matriarch, every ship with a sizable troop attaché, order them to the ground in any part of the countryside that has valleys to hide them in. Right now!" John ordered gruffly, his eyes tracking from the Matriarch's flustered expression to the display of Strident's Six and Seven's shield readouts climbing back up.

"What for-" Lidanya caught herself with a frown before keying something from her end of the connection, "And the rest of the fleet?" She asked a moment later.

"Fall back to the Relay and get out of here," John said flatly, and then looked to the HUD on the glass viewscreen showing the missiles impacting the approaching destroyers just as another volley left his Stridents. "Lovell, HAVOKs ready to fire?"

"Aye, aye!"

Within the inky blackness of space before the Stridents, all that was visible to the naked eye was the occasional explosion of a ship or the impact and detonation of a weapon on a Reapers hull. On the HUD imposed over the glass, John watched as two dozen carrier class ships pulled away from the fighting and beelined toward Thessia's atmosphere.

One of them was lit up by beams of red and exploded, and ten Asari Cruisers about faced and opened fire on the Sovereign-class Reaper that had destroyed the carrier. The Reaper fired again, and a beam strobed through one of the Cruisers, shearing a portion of one of its fins off.

An explosion rocketed from the point, and the ship pointed directly at the Reaper before accelerating at sublight speed. The Reaper fired at it again, but it twisted deftly in space twice to evade without breaking from its flight path. The ship impacted the Reapers underside and exploded in a brilliant flash of blue-white flames before Lidanya's voice called from the display again.

"Master Chief, the fleet is breaking away, do whatever it is you plan and may the goddess be with you!" The feed cut and John watched the icon for the Destiny Ascension jump to FTL toward the Relay, the other Asari ships still capable of leaving immediately moved after their flagship.

"Haverson, withdraw," John ordered, then looked to Lovell and the HUD displaying his still thankfully unscratched Stridents that where evading the Destroyers as one. "All ships, deploy five HAVOKs each and leave for signal ignition."

A series of green lights flashed again, and the ship accelerated in the rough direction of the Relay. "HAVOKs away," Lovell said, and they showed up on the tactical display as flashing red blips where the Stridents had been moments earlier.

John silently hoped that the Reapers wouldn't notice them, and would see them as floating debris. He watched in baited anticipation as the Stridents drew further and further away, and the Reaper fleet of hundreds of Destroyers and seven remaining Sovereign-class ships chased after them and drew closer and closer to the waiting nukes.

Everyone on the bridge watched in excited silence as the bulk of the Reaper fleet moved through the field of fifty nukes left in the Stridents wake, and then exploded at the touch of a button from John's command station. The aft camera feed drew up on the forward viewscreen and lit up with the brilliant series of nuclear explosions.

"Immediate slip space!" John ordered.

Haverson delayed for just a moment, "Don't want to see what the nukes did, sir?"

John shook his head as Sarah murmured behind him, "I sure as hell do."

"I do, but all the Reapers know is that we have ships more powerful than the Asari, I'm assuming the radiation will block any scanning for now. They don't need to know that we use different FTL."

Haverson nodded, "Understood Sir, entering coordinates for Erda for resupply."

The displays for the other Stridents winked green, and a series of portals opened up before the escort fleet leaving Thessia, and they jumped away.

 **XX**

 **Earth**

 **XX**

Thomas Lasky grimaced at the result of the nuclear mines that he'd ordered place around Earth, they'd detonated on proximity alert to the Reaper fleet entering the middle of their blast radius, but had only succeeded in wiping out a majority of the smaller destroyer class.

"Fire all missiles, engage the capitals with MACs only," Lasky ordered.

"Onto it," Roland answered.

"Captain, what's your move?" Hackett asked from his own bridge via the comms.

"We're bait, Admiral," Lasky started just as the ship rumbled slightly from the firing of the two forward-facing MACs. Two distant explosions showed the success of the rounds as two Reapers went down in plums of fire and destruction. "We're moving in at full attack speed, then coming about to draw them into effective range of the orbitals."

"Got it, my fleet's on your underside, we'll offer any shielding we can."

Lasky glanced at the holographic display showing the battlespace and saw that First fleet was indeed hugging the underside of the Infinity like a swarm of bees to a hive as they sped toward the approaching Reapers. The ship rumbled again, and space was dotted by nearly a dozen new explosions as the rounds tore through the targeted ships and the ones behind them.

"Preparing to bring us about," Rolland advised as he fired off two more shots with the MAC and the capacitors for the rear mounted MACs began their charge.

The ship started to rotate in space just as the first six beams of molten red metal glanced off her shields and set the hull shimmering. A dozen more red beams struck true and carried along the Infinity's broadside as she twisted in space before yet another dozen impacted just as she finished coming about and icons showed the First Fleet firing a salvo of their own substantially weaker MACs grafted onto their outer hulls.

The result was still a positive one though, as ten of the smaller destroyer Reapers winked from the display.

"Shields down by thirty-two percent, Captain," An ensign from the closest weapons station announced.

Lasky quickly ran through the math in his head as he watched the shield capacity start to climb back up again and nodded approvingly at the resulting knowledge, "What's their weapon output, Roland?"

"Weapons output at roughly four hundred kilotons of energy per beam from the capital class ships give or take some, they'll have to hit us with at least a hundred shots in pretty quick order to take out our shields for long enough to do any real damage."

Lasky grit his teeth at the information. Since the Infinity had last come up against a Covenant energy projector last and been severely damaged, the shielding technology had been overhauled to be able to take at least one direct shot that could yield at least forty-two megatons of power two give the Infinity time to evade or fight back before potentially being disabled.

But as much as the Reapers were substantially weaker than that, with their numbers they could keep up a stream of fire which would force the Infinity to keep her shields up and prevent her from firing for the chance of any shots getting through the exposed shielding and destroying their MAC.

Roland frowned as well a moment later as he realised exactly what his Captain just had, "We've still got the latest Titanium A3 armour plating… We can at least take some direct shots?"

Lasky nodded, despite the grim expression on his face. "Kasumi?" He asked over his shoulder to the woman who'd drifted into the background to leave the military minds to do their work.

"Yeah?" She asked back uncertainly.

"Go find Halsey, tell her what we just said and say she needs to find a way around this," Lasky ordered abruptly and remained ignorant to Kasumi's nod as she dashed from the bridge.

"I've just informed Hackett of our little problem, Captain," Roland advised.

Lasky shook his head and frustration, "Why didn't we take their numbers and rate of fire into account?"

"Can't always think of everything," Roland said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Captain," Hackett's voice called for Lasky's attention. "I didn't know that you had to lower your shields to fire?"

As though fated for perfect timing, the Reapers entered the kill zone for the orbital MACs, and the three platforms fired two shots each in short order and wiped out nearly a dozen Reapers. The waiting Alliance fleet immediately started forward as the platforms began their recharge, and the change of attackers gave Roland the space he needed to drop the section of shield around the aft cannons and fire.

He pulled the shield up just in time for several beams to glance off it and the splashed into a nearby cruiser, melting through its hull and sending it to a fiery doom.

"Didn't think to mention it, Admiral," Lasky said with a frustrated grunt, "I'll have to engage long-distance hit and run tactics, I'll need you to cover-"

"-Captain!" The ensign from earlier who'd reported the Reapers arrival called in dismay.

"What is it?" Lasky demanded hotly despite himself.

"Reading another fleet inbound! Looks like another thousand of the little ones."

"Dammit," Lasky hissed.

The ships decelerated right next to the orbital platforms, and the Alliance ships nestled within immediately turned to face the new threat. They fired into the mass of moving dark metal but were only rewarded with several explosions. The three MAC platforms roared their power into space again, aiming squarely at the original fleet of primarily capital class ships that were making short work of Fleet Two which had moved ahead to slow them.

The firing of the MACs instantly drew the attention of the fleet of destroyers; they zipped in and sliced their way through the Alliance frigates and cruisers that bared their passage with pinpoint strikes of their beams into the ships bridges. Seven of them landed on the central rail of one of the MACs, and the commander within made his final decision as the platform exploded into a ball of nuclear fire.

"Shit!" Lasky shouted in anger. He wanted to congratulate the station's commander for his brave choice, but he clearly hadn't thought through what the proximity of the explosions would do to nearby ships. Over a dozen Alliance frigates were vaporised, and several others were drifting aimlessly in space, slowly falling toward Earth.

"Is Shepard clear, Hackett?" Lasky hissed into the intercom.

Roland took another momentary opportunity as the beams raking along Infinity's shields stopped for a moment, and he fired four quick shots from the rear MACs and sent out hundreds of missiles.

"He just went to FTL," Hackett answered over the background din of shouts and curses. "You're not going to say…"

"I'm going to say we pull out!" Lasky said sharply. "Your fleet won't last much longer, and without distractions, I can't fire at them, we have to get out!"

"Damn it!" Hackett roared in an unusual display of emotion. "Fine then!" He conceded a moment later. "All ships, disengage and head for the Relay, we're abandoning Earth."

"Rolland, fire everything you can on our way out."

"Aye, aye, Captain," The Air dutifully responded, and the hull rumbled again as he took another opportunity to drop the shield to fire the MAC and dispatch another few Reapers.

"How effective were we?" Lasky sighed, feeling safer just knowing they were falling back despite it being a loss.

A long list of numbers sprung from the holo-table, "Each MAC round got a kill, some of them got a few, missiles were only really effective against the small ones."

"And the Alliance?" Lasky asked back.

Roland paused for a moment, and Lasky immediately knew that it wasn't good when a smart AI needed to pause or felt the emotive need to pause. "They succeeded in taking out about a dozen of the small ones, they also suffered heavy losses. Second fleet is gone, third and fourth fleet are below half strength, and the last MAC just went down, another self-destruct."

Lasky shook his head in a mixture of tiredness and frustration. The fight had only lasted a couple of hours –despite feeling like minutes- but the stress of spearheading the battle to defend Earth had quickly gotten to him, and now their defeat was exhausting him. "Take us to Erda as soon as Hackett's ships go to FTL."

 **October 3** **rd** **– Thessia**

Within the comfort of John's familiar helmet, he grit his teeth; he always hated this one single part of inter-planetary warfare thanks to the lack of ability he had. The troop bay of the pelican rattled from what sounded like a nearby explosion, but he and his team of Spartans, along with the other Spartan IV's who were packed into the troop bay, stayed solemnly still and quiet on their rush to the ground.

"There's a few Cerberus destroyers in the distance… Looks like they're holding station," The pilot advised over the intercom before going silent again.

John frowned and looked at Sarah to his right. The tilt of her helmet told him that she was looking back, "No point telling Lasky, nothing he can do about it," She said bluntly.

"This war is damn nuts!" Buck chimed in and received several grunts of approval from the other Spartans around them.

"At least we're still alive?" Olympia offered with a slight shrug. "It could be worse, they could be as bad as the Covenant?"

"Yeah, but at least the Covenant were honest about wanting to kill us, these things say they want to preserve our essence or some nonsense like that," Buck answered.

"Brace, brace!" The pilot shouted again, and the transport shook violently.

Even through the armoured hull, the sound of broadsword fighters screaming past was unmistakable, and the distant thunder of explosions told them of the assailants that had just been cleared out of the landing forces path.

The plan of attack had been relatively simple. After the initial rendezvous at the Citadel, all ground forces from the Asari and Alliance had been loaded onto the Infinity, and she with the Strident escort fleet had preceded the battle to retake Thessia. The mission was largely thanks in part to the spy drones which had reported that the carrier ships John had previously commanded to go ground-side had been successful in forming a strategic resistance on the planet's surface.

The Infinity and the Stridents had emerged from Slip Space barely a dozen kilometres from the Reaper fleet which had been holding station in orbit and had immediately wiped out half of the force that had remained after the successful taking of Thessia. Then before the Reapers could start to do any real damage, the full might of all the Asari fleets and the Alliance first fleet arrived in knife fight distance.

The strategy had succeeded in wiping out several more Reapers and giving the Infinity the window it needed to deploy the ground force. Over a hundred troop transports had swarmed from the UNSC flagship's belly. A large complement of them were the standard design Kodiaks full to the brim with eager Asari warriors and Alliance Marines.

What's more, the entire fleet of transports had made it through the atmosphere without a single loss, despite the Reapers attempts otherwise. Lasky had ordered all fighters deployed to cover the invasion.

John nudged his comms with his chin despite Sarah's words and opened up a line to the bridge of the Infinity, "Sierra 117 to Infinity."

"This is Infinity, I read you Sierra 117, go?" A voice not belonging to Lasky replied.

John withheld any potential concern about his intel not reaching the Captain and continued, "We're about to touch down, there are three Cerberus destroyers holding station in the distance."

"Copy, Sierra 117, I'll pass that along. The fighters are the only air support you'll have for a while yet."

Buck jabbed his elbow into Olympia's side and nodded his helmet at John, "Look, I knew he'd tell them anyway."

"You know Buck," Olympia began with a sweet note to her voice, despite the troop bay rocking again and the crowded space. "I like that I'm smart and that I speak well."

Behind his visor Back frowned, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," She agreed, "But you're a fucking dimwit sometimes! Maybe we should assign you to one of the Unggoy farm crews back on Erda?"

The Spartans in the troop bay sniggered in silent laughter, but Buck laughed louder than any of them, "I love those little bastards you know! They've got life good with us! They work and are happy doing it, they eat, well... suckle on those nipple things, and they love it!"

Olympia just sighed and shook her head a little.

"I wish I couldn't be insulted like you, Buck," Sarah said blandly.

John kept his smile at the banter to himself and thought back to his early pre-augmentation years as a Spartan when he'd last been able to have playful and friendly banter with his team of friends.

"Landing in five!" The pilot announced, and the troop bay lighting switched to red.

Everyone stiffened and readied themselves, and seconds later they all swayed from the sudden change of inertia, and the bay door slammed down. John was the first out with his DMR shouldered and seeking targets amongst the rubble.

He found a swarm of husks charging at him immediately and opened fire, his first shot blew a chunk of one of the creature's head off, and he fingered the trigger several more times, giving several other husks headshots. An instant later and the air was filled with a cacophony of rifle fire as all the Spartans piled out around him and opened up.

Another pelican, and another, and another, before almost a dozen more quickly landed in the decimated courtyard that the pilot from John's pelican had chosen. The space was quickly filled with armoured Spartans seeking husks to destroy. John looked from what had been his targets that had been reduced to fleshy grey mush to the opposing side of the courtyard where a series of unearthly screams sounded over the din of battle.

He saw the tall ghastly figures with purple waves of energy wafting off them over the tops of the Spartans and ran in their direction. Every Spartan who saw him coming stepped out of his way and he made good time crossing through the crowd around the pelicans to where the Asari husks were about to attack.

The one in the lead screeched in wretched rage and wave its' arm at the three Spartans closest to it. A wave of biotic power buffeted them but didn't do much damage beyond making them stagger. They straightened, and two of them lobbed grenades while the third retrieved a rail-gun from his back.

John arrived just as the shot reached full charge and was released; taking the head and shoulders off the Asari abomination that had attacked them. "Focus fire on the second," John ordered, falling to a knee to give those under his command more room to fire from.

Under his order, they all opened up, and the creature was torn to shreds, followed shortly after by the third. The courtyard grew eerily silent, save the distant sound of explosions, gunfire, and the unmistakable screech of a Reapers primary cannon.

"Clear!" Sarah called from the other side of the courtyard. "Assemble back into your fire teams then assemble the barricades and stationary weaponry. You'll have your marching orders soon."

All of the Spartans jumped to at Sarah's prompt ordering, and it made John silently happy to see that after their time not being aboard the Infinity that they still identified her as their commander. The courtyard became a mill of activity as dozens of Spartans rush back to the pelicans that had dropped them off and retrieved crates slung under the vehicle carriers before rushing back to the outer edges of the courtyard to assemble the barricade.

Sarah motioned for a squad to approach just as John drew near, "See that building?" She pointed to a twelve-story structure overlooking the courtyard. "I want you to take another squad with you, make sure it's clear, secure it, and post up on the rooftop."

"Yes, sir!" One of them barked and moved toward the target building with his squad falling in behind him. At the edge of the courtyard, he waved over a nearby squad, nodded to each other, clearly conversing over their helmet tactical network, and then rushed across the rubble littered street into the foyer of the building.

John watched for a moment more, but after they disappeared from sight and no gunfire sounded he turned his attention back to his number two. "You have a map of the place?"

Sarah answered by retrieving a cube from her hip, thumbing a button, and putting it on a brick on the ground. A holographic real-time representation of the city rose into the air, and she pointed a finger at the courtyard they were in, "We're here, the other landing sites are here, here, here, here, there, there, and there," She listed off, moving her finger from one location to the next to denote the places where Spartans, Asari, and Alliance troops were.

John briefly wondered about Shepard after seeing him briefly aboard the Infinity and hoped the Alliance marine was well. He shook his head and at his wandering thoughts and reached into the map and pinching it to make it pan out. It did so until it was panned out far enough for the name of the city they were in to impose itself over the map, and for the neighbouring city to be shown with the Cerberus ships above it. "Serrice?" He asked aloud, "Do we know what's in Serrice? Why would Cerberus be there?"

Sarah peered at it for a moment and nodded slowly, "I think that's where the Asari kept that Prothean device that they'd hidden, and Cerberus seem like they're pretty interested in that tech."

John frowned and knew that he was missing something, and on cue, his radio buzzed in his ear.

"Chief? This is Shepard, do you have eyes on those Cerberus ships over Serrice?"

"Yeah, they're not a part of our mission right now though," John replied slowly, not liking that he was ignoring one enemy almost just as bad as their primary one. The thought put him in mind of when they were fighting the Covenant and the Flood. "Tactical is showing thirty Reaper destroyers here in Armali and some kind of structure they've landed here, they're our primary concern. We'll deal with Cerberus if they become a threat."

 **October 10** **th** **– Thessia orbit ~ UNSC Infinity.  
**

' _UNSC Prowler Daylight Dares,_

 _Intel report,_

 _Commander Henry Davidson,_

 _Mission parameters: Slip Space into Earth's orbit and maintain stealth for observation of enemy movement._

 _In system fleet strength: Two hundred designated Sovereign-class Reapers, one hundred of which are on the ground. Three hundred Destroyer-class, two hundred and fifty of which are on the ground.  
After action report for Infinity's battle in Earth orbit is hard to speculate on. We have an accurate count for the number of Reapers confirmed killed from the Infinity, the orbital MACs and the Alliance fleets, but it is impossible to speculate how many, if any are all, were destroyed by the Infinity's final departure.  
The debris field is not as sizable as should be expected from a battle the scale recorded, suggesting that the Reaper forces have been scavenging materials for new constructions, and given the movement on the ground, this is a likely possibility.  
All readings and observations of Earth suggest that there's a ninety percent probability that within ten to twenty days, Earth will suffer an irreparable environmental collapse. Reaper activity on the ground is extensive, and we believe we have observed the construction of twelve new Sovereign-class Reapers taking place.  
Since arriving here seven days ago we have observed twenty-four large Reaper vessels that we have identified as a carrier utility class of vessel come and go, we predict that these vessels are taking human husks off-world to other battlefronts. We know for a fact that the Reapers are currently encroaching heavily on all allied species space beside the Krogan DMZ and Quarian territory. It would not be a stretch to assume that these husks - if they're not some of the ones being used on Alliance or Asari worlds- that they're heading to either the Turian controlled systems or even toward the Terminus systems.  
There have been small signs of human forces fighting back, but they are either destroyed with overwhelming force within minutes of revealing their positions or appear to be swarmed by husks and captured.  
The probability of total removal of human life on Earth within the next five days at the current rate of advancement of Reaper forces is one hundred percent._

 _I suggest the Flood outbreak protocol ~ Asset denial._


	15. Chapter 15

**Ahhh and life's responsibilities swept me away again!  
Who else on here writes as well? If you do, do you also write any of your own original works?  
Lately, I've been having trouble disciplining my creativity toward writing this fanfic with my creative interests naturally drifting to wanting to do my original works.  
I did say that I wouldn't abandon this story, and I really don't want to, I hate leaving anything unfinished… But the more I get into writing my own original work the harder I find it to write fanfic :/ I'll see if I can keep myself invested in this in light of that! **

**Anywho! Chapter 15 is up, hope you like it. If not, please refrain from flames. I always welcome constructive criticism, but on the same hand, I tend to adopt a, "It's only a fanfiction," attitude whilst I write, and I can get a touch lazy when I write fanfic in my off hours since it tends to be in the wee hours of the night.**

 **Review responses:**

 **Daisy Rhine:** Likewise! I could deal with the temp here in southern Aus being 20 degrees c cooler though :')

 **Prometheus-G747:** Thanks! I've been unsure if I wanted to include that, honestly. My idea was to (in some ways) make the story more personal, and kind of phase the Normandy into the background and make Shepard/Liara/Garrus the vessels for the ME persona's we know and love.

 **Scarease:** I can't remember which Halo book I read it in… But ONI and/or the UNSC do have a Flood protocol. I believe it essentially boils down to asset denial, which in this case is living beings.

 **Chapter Fifteen  
.:: A Victory With a Sacrifice ::.**

 **October 18** **th** **– Thessia  
**

All the N7 training in the world and the years of anxiety-riddled battling against the Reaper's agents, despite how it had all felt as it had happened, hadn't been close to enough to prepare Shepard for the kind of fighting he was involved in.

A wounded and dehydrated sounding roar carried through the shattered door frame that Shepard was hunkered down around. He clenched his jaw and calmed his breathing and dropped to the floor onto his right side. With a kick against the wall, he skidded into the open doorway and pulled the trigger of his Mattock rifle six times in quick succession.

His first shot went wide of the Cannibal in the lead of the group that'd just arrived from down the rubble-strewn street, but the second, third and fourth shots traced a line up its torso until its' head exploded into a cloud of meaty mush. His Fifth and sixth shots impacted the Cannibal that immediately began feeding off its downed comrade.

"Garrus!" Shepard called to his Turian comrade, "How many we got?"

Garrus didn't immediately reply, and Shepard focused his hearing onto the sound of shifting rubble, lurching inhuman voices wailing in indecipherable communication, and the not too distant sound of other endless battles taking place in the once beautiful Asari city of Armali.

Five three round shots sounded from a third story window in the building next to the one Shepard was in. "Twelve Cannibals, about twenty of the red husks and there are about thirty of the Asari ones coming down the street."

"Shit," Shepard cursed under his breath. He straightened back against the doorframe and peeked around the corner again, momentarily sighting the enemy forces before ducking back in as chunks of the door frame were blown away by the fire that honed in on him.

Fifteen days earlier he'd been aboard one of the hundreds of troop transports with Garrus and Liara that had landed in Armali to begin clearing the city of Reaper forces while the Asari, UNSC and Alliance fleet in orbit dealt with the Reaper ships. The plan had been expected to go simply, and at first seemed as though it would.

The UNSC ships lead the attack and took out a third of the Sovereign-class Reapers in their opening salvo, and then the Asari and Alliance ships had arrived to add their fire to the mix and give the Infinity enough cover to both deploy the massive troop complement she was carrying and open back up with another wave of attacks.

It had been expected, according to Matriarch Lidanya and the Master Chief's intel, that the fleet would be able to clear out the Reapers within a day and give their ground invasion force orbital support to bring a swift end to the Reapers almost uncontested ground occupation of Thessia.

But things hadn't progressed so smoothly, and a day later, close to a hundred new Reaper capital ships arrived with a thousand more Destroyers and one of the rare lumbering harvester class'. The harvester had made it through the orbital battle and landed with its single escort of a Sovereign-class and a dozen destroyers, adding to the close to hundred destroyers that had already been present on the ground.

The added Reaper fleet presence in the system changed the plan of attack drastically, and the Infinity and her Strident escorts, being the most effective ships against the Reapers, had been forced to withdraw as the Reapers had reportedly begun to focus fire on them.

Shepard had never seen the technology in action with his eyes, but in knowing it had taken only two direct hits from the Reapers beam to destroy one of the Alliance's dreadnoughts, it astounded him that the Infinity could take close to one hundred hits before her shields even fell. But he'd heard that the shield had fallen, and an entire escort fleet of Asari cruisers had sacrificed themselves, acting as a shield against incoming fire for long enough for the Infinity and her Stridents to take out several more Reapers and recover her shields before falling back.

The remaining ships from Asari and Alliance fleet had likewise fallen back, and then two days later in orbit of an in-system gas giant had been given unexpected support from the arrival of the Salarian First Attack Fleet. Once more, the allied forces had made a run for Thessia, intent on clearing out the Reapers.

The radio chatter that had made it to the ground painted the picture that the same kind of tactics were not to be used again, and all battles staged over Thessia would be hit and run style attacks. This had continued on until now with another strike run being made in orbit, audible over the radio if keyed into the fleets' tactical network.

A sound like a metal gong warbling echoed from a third story window down the street, and Shepard peeked his head around the door in time to see several speeding blue orbs crash into the cannibals and tear them limb from limb. At the total success of the attack, Liara's grubby face appeared in the window and Shepard waved to her.

She waved back immediately with a tired smile which he was sure both he and Garrus would match if he saw a mirror. But the moment of victory was short-lived as the wail of Banshees reminded Shepard of the biotic Asari husks Garrus had reported coming.

Twelve orbs, just like the ones Liara had cast, smashed into the window that she was in and chunks of metal and concrete exploded outward. Shepard gripped his Mattock in fear and straightened in the doorway to fire downrange at the group of thirty tightly packed Asari abominations.

His shots didn't do anything besides draw their attention to him, something that despite not being his intent proved to make him reluctantly happy as Liara took the opportunity to pounce from her shattered hiding spot and almost glide to the ground using her biotics.

She impacted the broken pavers in a roll and was immediately up and dashing for Shepard's hiding place. Garrus's gunfire joined Shepard's a moment later, and the Banshees attention split to both the attackers for just a moment before deciding to again attack the closest target.

The concrete around Liara's feet exploded, and she was thrown forcefully into the cover she'd been aiming for around the abstractly mangled remained of a sky-car thirty meters shy of Garrus's structure.

The sky screamed and close to fifty UNSC jets roared overhead. In response to the jets speeding through the sky, several of the Reapers oculus drone fighters zoomed into the air from behind the distant silhouette of a lumbering Reaper Destroyer to meet the incoming threat.

Ten of the broadsword fighters present in the formation accelerated and opened up onto the enemy just as the drones likewise began flashing their weapons. After several seconds only one drone remained with one broadsword careening to the city below. Missiles began to streak from the underbellies of the larger longsword bombers, and they rocketed into the Destroyer in plumes of fire.

The broadsword pilots decided to add their fire to the mix, and even from the kilometres distance Shepard could hear the air thrum with the powerful chain guns. More explosions billowed around the Destroyer from ground-based fire before the Jets finished their initial attack run and made a hard G turn for a second attack.

A hollow wail brought Shepard's mind back to the fight at hand, and he collected one of the Sangheili's plasma grenades off his belt that he'd stocked up on while aboard the Infinity. He sprinted from the doorway and hurled the now ignited grenade into the face of the closest Banshee closing in on Liara's mangled cover.

The pulsating device impacted the Banshee's face and stuck, despite its attempt to claw it off, and it exploded just as Shepard dove and rolled into cover next to Liara.

"Nice shot!" Garrus called over his Incisor rifle fire from a different window to before.

Shepard barely grunted in response and rolled over Liara's legs to stay in cover and peek out at the damage he'd done. The upper body of the target Banshee was completely gone, and the one that had been behind it had taken enough plasma damage for the front of its tormented head to have melted off entirely and irreparably damaged its cybernetics.

"Shepard!" Garrus yelled in a warning tone.

The Turian didn't need to explain what he was warning about as an instant later the familiar sound of human husks joined the wails of the Banshees. Shepard scowled to himself for having fought their way into this situation and now being so far away from any other ground support.

Not even the Master Chief and his now legendary Sword Team could have gotten to him in time to help with this situation if he called it in. The roar of UNSC jet engines carried his eyes up for a moment, and then he was activating his comlink in his helmet.

"This is Alliance Squad Alpha One, UNSC aircraft do you read?"

A moment of silence from the comm device was only interrupted by both Shepard and Liara perching the barrels of their weapons onto the mangled metal and firing at the Banshees without looking.

"This is Viper Four, what do you need?" A calm feminine and decidedly welsh sounding voice answered back.

Shepard peeked to the distant formation of UNSC jets that had broken into various squadrons now and were attacking the Destroyer in waves and wondered which of the jets Viper Four was. "My name is Commander Shepard, we were en route to Serrice to investigate the Cerberus ships that bugged out a couple of hours ago, and we got pinned down by enemy forces, I need you to light up everything around us."

"I've got you on HUD, inbound now," Three jets peeled off from the fighting and made a beeline for the street that Shepard and Liara were bunkered down in. "Looks like it'll be danger close," Viper Four warned.

"Garrus! Everything you've got into the Banshees now!" Shepard roared as he looped an arm around Liara's armoured middle and pulled her from her belly onto her knees in readiness to make a run for it.

Six incendiary grenades flew from a fourth-floor window and exploded on impact with the slowly approaching Banshees. Just as the closest four started to wave their arms toward the window in a biotic attack, the window erupted in muzzle flashes from fully automatic fire from two rifles.

Shepard tucked away the desire to warn his friend of the dangerous move of firing from the open window with two rifles at once in such a situation in favour of giving Liara a slight lift with him and sprinting blindly to the building that Garrus was in.

"Firing," Was all the warning Shepard had over his radio that Viper Four was within firing range.

The thrumming of the autocannons drowned out all of the haunted sounds of the Reapers and bullets impacted the ground with a more delicate sound than it deserved. Shepard and Liara reached the closest window and dove through, smashing the surprisingly intact glass and rolling to a breathless stop a little ways into the room that looked to be a kind of beauty salon.

Shepard and Liara both crawled back to the windows edge and knelt to look into the destruction being wrought into the street. Barely anything was visible beyond the clouds of dirt and dust being thrust into the air and shrouding the streaks of tracer rounds and the explosions of bodies that sent limbs bouncing away from the bodies they belonged to.

And then suddenly there was total silence, beyond the distant sound of other fights that Shepard and his squad had quickly learnt to ignore in favour of whatever was happening in the immediate vicinity. "How's it looking Garrus?" Shepard asked slowly into his radio.

From his higher vantage point, the Turian paused to look through his scope down range at the road they'd followed here and been assailed from. "Flyboys got 'em all."

A breath that Shepard didn't realise he'd been holding heaved from his chest and he quickly re-entered himself, standing straight and looking out the window more confidently at the dust settling over the myriad of Reaper husk corpses in the various degrees of mutilation.

"Maybe we should have followed the Master Chief's orders, Shepard?" Liara asked quietly in an emotionally subdued tone.

Shepard looked at her in blank confusion for a moment as she mounted the window frame and pivoted over it. The sound of nearby footfalls announced Garrus having descended a flight of stairs to join them on ground level, and Shepard likewise followed Liara out the window with Garrus doing the same moments later.

"But we needed intel on what Cerberus was doing here, they arrived here before us and managed to get through the atmosphere uncontested. There's something to that, there has to be!" Shepard argued tiredly.

"Shepard, maybe they got here before the Reapers and just laid low? We don't know…" Garrus said with a shrug while double checking the fallen Reaper forces.

"That's my point, we don't know. Cerberus doesn't just randomly go places," Shepard said and fired a shot into a writhing Husk.

"So you didn't agree with Chief's plan?" Liara asked. She took the initiative in leading them back along the street that they'd taken to reach here with her pistol raised to guard against the likelihood of more Reaper ground forces arriving.

Shepard and Garrus both sighed and shouldered their rifles to follow after her. "I did, but he should have assigned a platoon to investigate Cerberus, we might have got them that way."

"We both know the history that you have with them Shepard, but don't let that get in the way of things…" Garrus said with an edge of anger in his voice. "Thanks to the Chief, Thessia stood a fighting chance when the Reapers landed, and our priority had to be to relieve the local forces and help liberate one city that we knew for a fact had people still in it."

"Yes, but what about the threat that-"

"-Shepard!" Liara sighed in frustration, spinning on her heel to glare angrily into his face. "We all know that Cerberus is a threat! The Chief knows just as well. But we had priorities, you heard on the radio as we left Armali that three Spartan fireteams had died protecting a group of civilians from a swarm of Husks. Maybe we could have helped them! Maybe more of the civilians could have survived?"

Shepard clenched his jaw and after a silent moment nodded and attempted to soften his angry gaze that was contesting Liara's far fiercer one. He was both wrong and right, and he knew that the circumstances were radical, "I'm sorry," He said, "I just thought that we could do both and save more people in the long run."

Garrus took the lead, and his momentum made Shepard and Liara start moving again, "Well whatever Cerberus wanted in Serrice, they got it; probably that Prothean beacon. We can just keep on fighting and regroup with the troops."

 **X October 18** **th** **– Serrice, Thessia**

The fighting had, for the most part, stopped, and a long, demanding, expensive, and nightmarish clean-up was due to begin. But no one cared about that, especially not the Asari present in the ground force at the sight of a damaged but free Thessia. Despite his reservation about how it had gone in trying to track down Cerberus, Shepard smiled at the sheer relief on Liara's face as they, amongst groups of civilian emergency relief teams, picked their way carefully up a jagged mountain of concrete that had once been the primary staircase leading into the Temple of Athame.

Just earlier that morning the two of them had learnt the importance of wearing as much body covering as possible in the debris-strewn former war zone. Emerging from one of the thousands of shipping containers converted into temporary accommodation that had been placed in a bulldozed-clear section of Armali in the form of temporary city for the Asari resistance fighters around the outskirts of the military outpost that the UNSC with the aid of the Salarian reinforcements had built from orbitally deployed stations.

Having emerged from the container turned bedroom with far too much casual comfort in knowing that there were no Husks or Reapers for a long, long, long way. Shepard had donned only his fatigues with boots on, wanting to enjoy the fresh air on his skin, and slipped on some rubble and upon standing found dozens of razor-sharp shards of concrete embedded in his forearms.

It had been another lesson in soldiering professionalism, as far as he was concerned. Despite the fact that the enemy in the immediate vicinity were dealt with and dead; to treat the field of battle like a dangerous warzone all the way up until it had been restored.

"Why did they keep the beacon here?" Shepard asked and drew his attention from his thoughts back to the present.

Liara, having mounted the once-stairs ahead of him, glanced back and offered a hand. He took it, and with a slight tug from her, he found his footing on the top in moments.

"It was said that Athame came from the sky and taught us farming and science. I guess it's clear now that Athame was probably a Prothean and the religion was a cover-up. It has been debated a lot in the past few hundred years why the temple receives so much funding."

Shepard grunted in understanding and vexation as he almost slipped on the loose rubble again. He found his footing and preceded Liara into the temple proper amongst the columns and pillars toward all that remained of the former and once grand statue of the Asari Athame.

"By the goddess, all this history just destroyed!" Liara grimaced and rushed from their path to a wall once beautifully strewn with intricate murals; now pocket-marked with mass accelerator impacts and splashes of Asari and Husk blood.

"It will be rebuilt, stronger than ever!"

Shepard glanced at the source of the calmly spoken feminine voice near the remains of the statue where a table was set up, "Councillor?"

Tevos smiled sadly, "I'm afraid I'm not the Councillor any more than you're no longer a Spectre, Commander."

"Chancellor Tevos, I've recovered all the recordings!" A purple skinned Asari called as she rushed in from a side passage. She paused at seeing the famed Commander Shepard, and with a nod of approval from Tevos hurried to her leaders' side with a disk held before her.

Tevos retrieved the disk and turned it in inspection before placing it atop a data display device on the table.

"Chancellor?" Liara asked of the title in confusion as she walked toward the former Councillor. "There aren't Chancellor's in the Asari republic."

Tevos smiled at the younger –but no less famed- Asari sadly, "There's no Asari Republic anymore either, I'm afraid."

Shepard frowned and spread his arms slightly in a gesture to all the milling Asari about the temple working on one task or another, "Then who do these people belong to?"

"Currently, under the stewardship of all the remaining Matriarchs who captain ships and myself, the Asari Republic is being reformed into a representative empire, the Asari will finally have a formalised government."

"And you elected yourself Chancellor?" Liara shot back doubtfully.

"Actually, no," She smiled a little more broadly than the remorseful expression that had held sway on her features. "The Master Chief and Captain Lasky recommended a form of military rule to Lidanya, and after discussion, we came to this conclusion, the Matriarchs all elected me."

"The Asari empire," Shepard said it slowly and scoffed, "You know, it sounds suitable."

Liara shot Shepard a doubtful look and Tevos an accusatory one, "An empire? You want to be an Empress?"

Tevos flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture at Liara and looked back to the screen on her table, "Hardly. Right now I serve an important purpose in consolidating the Asari when this is all said and done it might be different, but there will certainly be election cycles to ensure no one retains power for too long."

Shepard saw the doubtful look on Liara's face and kept his own approval of the political move to himself and stepped forward to cut off Liara's looming argument. "So what do you know about Cerberus being here?"

"Hmm?" Tevos hummed and barely looked from the screen. "We know that they took the beacon and that they have the Prothean VI."

"Prothean VI? Like the one we found on Ilos?" Shepard asked and looked down onto the data being displayed on the table.

In one corner of the table, there was an aerial map of Thessia and all the areas where there was still fighting going on. In the other corner, there were schematics for ships, deployable structures and weapons, and the other half was occupied by a page of text with a security camera feed silently showing the Illusive Man himself standing before the Asari statue and gesturing at it.

His lips moved silently, and a squad of femininely built troops under the leadership of a long-haired man dispersed throughout the room, activating various nodes. After several minutes of this, the statue collapsed and revealed the pulsating beacon. The light into the temple flashed repeatedly, and it was clear that the destroyers holding station above were laying down fire into what was sure to be the Reaper forces attempting to reach the temple.

Another group of Cerberus troops marched in with a hovering crane. Under what seemed to be careful instruction, they hefted the beacon out, and after the Illusive Man carefully palming at it, they marched out all too coolly for Shepard's liking.

"What time was this?" His voice a quiet warning of his anger at the sight.

Tevos pinched a section of the screen, and a timestamp appeared, "Eighteen hundred."

Shepard looked inward, recalling his self-given mission to reach the Cerberus ships. "That was before we even landed! What were they doing all that time?"

"And how do you know there was a Prothean VI in the beacon?" Liara added in a dubious tone of voice.

"Our techs have assumed that they were holding station waiting for a good opportunity to leave. The arrival of the Salarian reinforcements appeared to be that opportunity. And we don't know for sure there was a VI, it's an educated guess based off your meeting one in a former and important beacon, and the manner in which we've always been able to obtain some information from the beacon but not core data. We came to the conclusion that there was an advanced VI within only allowing us access to minor systems one bit at a time."

"What the hell is the Illusive Man up to," Shepard grumbled under his breath to invigorate his own capacity to work the question out.

"Our thoughts exactly, Commander Shepard."

Shepard turned in surprise at the unexpected voice and was greeted with seeing Captain Lasky leading his small group toward them. The Master Chief, Spartan's Palmer, Buck and Vale followed in a line a step behind the captain with their helmets mag-locked onto their left thigh plating with another shorter blonde man in an officer's uniform at the Master Chief's right.

"Given the way the mission on Mars went, we have to assume that Cerberus got what they wanted there too and that this is connected in some way," Lasky continued as he drew to a casual stop next to Tevos.

Shepard gave the towering Spartan a small smile and nod of greeting which was equally passed on to the other Spartans. "Vigil, on Ilos, was guarding the intel about the Prothean Mass Relay on the Citadel, and we know for a fact that the Protheans must have been the technologically dominant species in their cycle, so would it make sense that this all has to do with some Prothean technology?"

Tevos hummed in thought and pinched her brow, "The Illusive Man has proven that Cerberus is not to be taken lightly, but how can we divert forces away from fighting the Reapers to fighting Cerberus?"

"You can't, ma'am. With all due respect, our technology is more destructive than whatever the Protheans had if the Reapers beat them, we can deal with Cerberus later," Palmer said with a shrug.

Shepard frowned openly at the abrupt answer and looked to the Master Chief to curb his underling's answer. At seeing the Chief wouldn't, Shepard looking the sable-haired woman in the eye, "So we're meant to just let Cerberus do and take what they want?"

"Shepard," Tevos sighed tiredly. "I hate it. With all my heart I hate it, but she's right."

Liara opened her mouth to contest her elder, but Tevos shot her a glare that warned her not to. Liara's demeanour shrunk at the look that spoke of Tevos's age and experience.

"Things are much worse with the Reapers than you can imagine. Cerberus has attacked the Mars archives and killed a handful of soldiers, they have attacked here and killed a handful of researchers. The Reapers have attacked dozens of worlds and killed millions or billions already. All of Alliance space is under siege, all of Asari space is under siege, even the Salarians are under attack, and we have to assume the Turians are too. The only fights we've won have been the ones with UNSC support, the others are barely holding on, and you think we should divert forces to hunt down Cerberus?" Tevos rounded on Shepard with an angry sadness dominating her features.

Shepard didn't know what to say and instead clenched his jaw in anger at the situation.

"It's worse than that."

All eyes turned to the blonde officer who'd followed beside the Master Chief and his Spartan team. Lasky looked from him to the Tevos, Shepard and Liara, "This is Commander Henry Davidson or the UNSC Daylight Dares, a stealth prowler class vessel I deployed to Earth eight days ago."

The introduction completed, Henry stepped forward and momentarily met the eyes of the three new acquaintances, "There is an extremely heavy Reaper presence on Earth; so heavy that we predict that eighty percent of all human-based Husks in combat zones come from Earth. We also tracked the building of twelve new Sovereign-class Reapers on the surface, and the manner of combat that the Reapers are employing on the surface against any resistance is causing environmental collapse, along with their mining techniques to replenish their armaments. If they haven't harvested all life on Earth, then everything will be dead from total environmental collapse very soon."

Shepard's jaw clenched, and Liara's lolled open in two very different states of shock while Tevos frowned angrily, "Do we have any idea why they focused so heavily on Earth?"

"Just a guess, but I'd say it was coz Shepard's been sticking it to them the past few years," Buck chimed in with a grimace.

"A vindictive tactic?" Tevos asked quietly. "You mean, the only species to have resisted them arriving is their first target as some kind of revenge?"

Buck shrugged, and John answered for him, "It seems more like a threat."

Shepard clenched his fists in quiet anger, and tears of anger built at the corners of his eyes, "When do we take Earth back?"

Henry scoffed and instantly received three angry glares. He held up his hands defensively, "If it were our Earth, I'd probably feel the same…" He paused and shook his head, "But you didn't see it. There's almost no Earth to take back. And if we take enough ships there to try and take it back, they'll just reinforce. There will be no taking Earth back. There's no way we can conventionally win a strategic battle there."

"I've spoken to the Alliance admiralty board about this too," Lasky explained with a more diplomatic touch, meeting Shepard's angry eyes and the two Asari's astonished ones. "I informed the Admiralty of every weapon in our arsenal, and they suggested a drastic plan."

"What kind of drastic plan?" Liara said softly as though she really didn't want to know.

Lasky looked at everyone present to gauge their emotional state's and meet their eyes in an attempt to comfort them before he spoke again, "We have a kind of bomb called a NOVA bomb. It was designed to be deployed onto Covenant worlds and render it lifeless. The Admiralty board suggests a plan where we gather the largest fleet we can in range of Reaper sensors before moving to Earth. The fleet will be bait to draw more Reapers in, and we'll deploy the NOVA and withdraw to take out as many Reapers as possible."

"You're going to destroy Earth!" Tevos gasped in astonishment.

Lasky pursed his lips on his ashen face and nodded, "There's nothing left to save there."

"Chief, you can't agree with this?" Liara implored to the silent Spartan who'd been the precursor to the UNSC's presence.

John cantered his head toward Henry, "Show them."

Henry nodded, almost apologetically, and walked up next to Liara, Shepard and Tevos, and lowered a data crystal onto the screen's surface. Within seconds images and readings from the crystal were dominating the screen. Earth was no longer green and vibrant. All of the colour had been sapped away and replaced with billowing clouds of black smoke broken only by blazing fires that seemed to stretch forever. The entire surface appeared charred and desolate.

Shepard took a sharp intake of breath at the images and stooped lower to the surface. He placed his hands on it and manipulated the image to zoom in and then out again in various areas. He shook his head in denial of what he was seeing and moved the image, looking for anything that would show a sign of hope.

Several minutes passed, and he finally stopped with a grim and tired look in his eyes. "I agree with the plan. How do we make this happen?"

Lasky pressed his lips together and nodded sadly, "Chancellor, we need you to report all of your fleets into temporary UNSC command, the Alliance is doing the same, and all the Salarian fleets in the system are also joining. We're going to gather in the Exodus cluster for several days to ensure the Reaper drones see us."

"All the Matriarchs will report to you within the day, Captain Lasky," Tevos said with an expression that denied her tiredness, "May the Goddess be with you."

 **October 25** **th** **– Sol System – Earth  
**

Shepard clenched his fists in anger and anticipation, his lips a thin line and his brow furrowed. Upon boarding the UNSC Daylight Dares two days earlier, he'd initially been awed by the different kind of ambience within a UNSC vessel to anything else he'd ever been within.

Every single ship Shepard had ever been within, besides Quarian ships, had been built with a certain, or large, amount of civilian-style comfort in mind. The UNSC was decidedly more militaristic in their design choices, and even though the bridge of the Daylight Dares looked very well used, and the way that all the bridge crew looked at each other and communicated spoke of the fact that they had served together for a long time and were likely fast friends, everything was carried out in a brisk and professionally military manner.

His initial feeling of being impressed hadn't taken long to transform into quiet embarrassment at the far less military orientated ambience of his own ship, or anything of Alliance design, and then his mind had wandered to wondering if the UNSC produced Alliance Dreadnoughts where exactly the same or if they'd included some of their own designs.

Liara had been even more fascinated and far more candid in questioning their host, Commander Henry Davidson, on the nature of the ship. They again came around to the same decision settled upon as the massive battlegroup in the Exodus Cluster assembled about the Daylight Dares to be a more suitable stealth vessel selection than the Normandy, considering the importance of their observation mission.

While the Normandy had the ability to hide all of her emissions for several days, she was still physically visible to anyone or anything looking in the right direction. That was where the UNSC Prowler was one class above with ship-wide active camouflage which rendered the frigate-sized ship invisible in the void.

They had deployed to Earth two days ahead of the false invasion and arrived on the dark side of Luna with their camouflage active. With a slow orbit around the moon, they'd taken station over what had been a military outpost left decimated by the Reaper invasion and remained in orbit to observe the Reaper movements on the dying Earth below to advise the fleet when they arrived.

Knowing that the battle would be faux, Shepard had requested to be in some kind of observational role so that he could at least feel certain that this was the correct choice of action. The view they'd been granted of Earth had only just been able to confirm that to him.

The only colour left on the planet were the glimpses of dull blue ocean visible through the extensive ash clouds that now almost completely blanketed the planet. The two thousand strong fleet of Sovereign-class Reapers in orbit above North America immediately dissuaded Shepard from attempting to discuss any plan different to the one they'd already decided upon.

Davidson had driven that even further from mind when he'd read out the planetary readings regarding the thousands of Destroyers on the ground with dozens of the Harvester ships, and recently abandoned construction sites suggesting that the new Reapers had already been completed.

"Not much left, huh?"

The despondent voice dredged Shepard from his internal anger, and he glanced to Davidson sitting his in cushioned command chair in the middle of the bridge. Shepard glanced back out the view screen showing the dead homeworld before looking to the saddened smile Liara was giving him seated at one of the comm link consoles and then back to the UNSC commander.

"No, there isn't," He agreed simply.

"Allied fleet entering system," One of the crew called, "All fleets on course, ETA four minutes, Reaper fleet responding."

"The Infinity?" Shepard asked.

Davidson looked at the tactical screen that had descended forward and left from his chair showing the fleet movements around Earth. "She'll arrive on time, don't worry."

Shepard nodded with an ashen expression and made his way past the diligent crew to stoop over the back of Liara's chair where she was coding a tight beam signal to meet the Destiny Ascension when the ship came out of FTL. "How many ships ended up coming?"

Liara pursed her lips and checked several details off her screen and finished entering a chain of commands into her console, "Looks like every single Alliance and Salarian fleet, most of the Asari' fleets; hundreds of ships, thousands of fighters."

Shepard nodded to himself, not sure what to do with himself in this unusual role as a spectator. An alarm sounded and was quelled within moments, "Slip Space, Infinity is a minute early!"

A digital overlay washed over the view screen as an area over former continental Canada magnified to show the thousands of Reapers performing an about-face to head toward the newly arrived UNSC flagship. The Infinity accelerated away from her location, away from the Reapers, and closer to where the allied fleet was due to arrive.

Streaks of energy left the ship as she unloaded a full barrage of missiles toward the enemy approaching. It became clear to Shepard several seconds later that many of the missiles must have nuclear payloads as many of the explosions blossomed into miniature suns and seemed to considerably slow the Reapers.

Perfectly on cue, the Allied fleet dropped out of FTL, and the Infinity performed an about face again. "MAC discharge," A crewmember reported.

Six Reapers fell before they even reached the maximum firing distance of their weapons. But within seconds they were firing tendrils of red into the Allied fleet who were in the middle of firing every single round they could.

"Alliance Sixth Fleet advancing."

Shepard grimaced and mentally sent his respect to the crews of the fleet who'd offered themselves as a sacrifice to make the battle convincing enough so that they could succeed. "How long will that take?" He asked quietly to Davidson.

The Commanding officer looked sharply from his screen as his attention was broken. He looked at Shepard for a moment, then back to his screen, "NOVA deployed, take us out-system."

A UNSC design shuttle was highlighted green and followed in the wake of the advancing Sixth Fleet. The fleet had already lost half of its complement and was in the midst of being decimated. "Destiny Ascension reports preparations to depart," Liara advised coolly from where she was seated.

Shepard grimaced at the report and glued his eyes to the tactical display showing all of the allied fleets slowly turning to make their escape while the Sixth Fleet sacrificed themselves to supply cover for the NOVA bomb deployment.

"Infinity jumping out."

True to the report, a slip space portal expanded before the massive ship, and she sped into it.

"Allied fleet going FTL."

Moments after the report, all of the allied fleets sped off at FTL speeds.

"NOVA detonating in three… Two… One…"

The view screen polarised from the flash of brilliant white light and everyone in the bridge shielded their eyes against it despite their technological shield.

"Report!" Davidson demanded.

"We're a safe distance from the blast, scanners are scrambled though," The ensign next to Liara called, and his hands danced across his display. "It's starting to cool down out there," He added a full minute later.

The display de-polarised and the bridge went deathly silent. The moon had been utterly shattered and looked like an incomplete section of a planetary ring, but it was the Earth that hitched Shepard's breath in his throat. The northern pole of the planet was no longer a part of Earth's spherical structure; it looked as though it had been an egg which had a hammer smash the top off it in a swing.

Earth spewed up into space from the shattered section of the planet and space was speckled with slowly cooling particles.

"Scanners coming back online," The ensign reported. His fingers tapped several controls, "Reaper fleet vaporised, Earth's atmosphere has been destroyed."

The bridge somehow became even more silent than it had been, it was broken by Davidson's dry cackle of laughter, "I'd call that a victory."

Shepard wanted to find offence at the statement, but he, like everyone else present, could easily hear the remorse in the man's voice. No one was happy that such a victory came at the cost of such destruction.

"Take us to the Citadel to rendezvous and report," He ordered in a subdued tone.

Shepard grimaced as he suddenly realised that this probably wouldn't be the first time this tactic was employed in this war.

"Are you okay?" Liara asked softly. She spun in her chair and grasped his clenched fist with her gloved fingers.

Shepard nodded slowly, "This war is going to destroy everything, isn't it?"

Liara's full lips turned down sadly, and silent tears welled in her eyes, "Maybe…" She blinked away the tears and clenched her jaw, "But if it does, we'll end the Reapers forever. Even if there's none us left in the end, we'll make sure this is the last cycle."

 **November 7** **th** **– Erda  
**

John grunted in a moment of annoyance as a shadow loomed over the bare skin of his folded forearms and denied him the warm light that he'd been attempting to enjoy. He'd taken more and more to enjoying being removed from his armour while within the safe confines of Erda.

The more often he returned here and saw the speed of which this new bastion of his' Humanity being built and the speed of that, the more he couldn't deny the distant desire to no longer be a soldier on the front lines, or behind enemy lines as it so often was for him.

His eyes scanned away from the distant forest he'd been observing casually to Sarah standing above him to his right, likewise in an off-duty UNSC issue t-shirt. Their gaze meeting, and her knowing she now held his attention with a slight smile tug on her usually composed lips, she stepped forward of his seat to the edge of the skip they were travelling on and leaned onto the railing, letting the air movement from there inertia attempt to undo her flawlessly neat hair.

John stood from his seat and took a step forward to be beside her, his hands found the railing, and he let his weight drop forward slightly. "What's on your mind?" He asked casually as they sped over the valley that separated the colony from the Imperium's construction site.

Sarah shrugged and huffed out a deep breath. She glanced to her right, looking to where Lasky was seated in one of the other construction worker seats reading a datapad with a technician shoulder to shoulder with him quietly describing what he was reading.

"Just everything…" She said in an aimless tone. "I mean, I feel like I don't know what we're doing."

John frowned, but righted his expression to assume his position of leadership, "What do you mean? We're fighting the Reapers."

The skip finished its passage over the lush valley that had already had black roads carved through it for ground transport, and the sound and scent of heavy duty construction assaulted the skips' occupants. Sarah adapted to the change in atmosphere and barely gave the thirty-kilometre construction a glance before straightening and looking into John's face.

"I'm not questing you or Lasky, or what we're doing here, John…" She sighed and looked at her boots in thought for a moment. Her eyes quickly came up with a suppressed look of wanting, "This just isn't our galaxy. These aren't our people we're protecting and risking our lives for. The Reapers aren't even really our enemy."

John frowned as she finished and immediately had the recent memory of fighting Husks with guns, knives and fists, of calling in airstrikes on Reaper Destroyers from orbit and manning mini-MACs himself sending the lumbering machines to their deaths as they tried to kill him and his people.

Sarah instantly adopted the same frustrated frown that he wore as the same thoughts breezed through her mind and she shook her head, "I know they're our enemy, but we could just stay here, in Erda, and never have to deal with them. We could work out a way back to our world and kick Cortana to hell and back and protect OUR people," She punctuated with growing intensity in her voice.

John's lips thinned at her speech, and he couldn't agree more. He knew there were a plethora of different levels of his understanding compared to hers. His view of the UEG's civilian population was purely theoretical, but it was a concept drummed into him since childhood that all of them were innocent peace-loving civilians that must be protected unless of course individuals amongst them proved otherwise by becoming Innies.

The Spartan's had been the shield and sword of the UNSC, so it was the UNSC and all of its servicemembers who John saw and felt the need to protect even more than the UEG civilians who fuelled the ranks. He nodded once in agreement, and with a pointed look carried Sarah's eyes from his face to the construction they were almost looming over as it thrummed with swarmed of silver constructors and teams of UNSC work crews.

"I agree, this ship will help us get back and eventually retake our planets."

"That is part of the plan," Lasky agreed, having risen from his seat and ushering the technician over with him as he stooped onto the rail next to Sarah. The technician in his grey and yellow overalls stood back unsure of his presence amongst the two Spartan heroes.

"It is?" Sarah asked with a raised brow, not quite believing the hopefulness in Lasky's voice.

He nodded, "We NEED to get back, to perform our duty to the UNSC. Setting up the colony is a contingency plan if we can't, but almost all of our resources are going into this ship and our science teams. Halsey is working on the several Slip Space theories right now. But if we involve ourselves with this galaxy and its war we might gain allies to help in our fight, and we might find new secrets that could lead us back more easily."

"The people here are soldiers fighting for their democracy's too," John added without a moment of stutter.

Sarah grimaced slightly and gave John a subtle imploring look to her normally calm expression. John withheld a scoff and the judgement on her slight xenophobic beliefs; he could hardly blame her after beginning life as a civilian and having fought alien aggressors for survival for just about every moment of her life.

These were well and truly different aliens, but the bias was something not easily lost after a lifetime of fighting for survival. "The aliens here…" He started with a nod back in the direction they came. "Have absolved themselves of their species rule, and the cultural boundaries to their settlements are just to help them integrate. What if the UNSC became all these species fighting together?"

Sarah pursed her lips and John could almost read the disbelief in her brain through her eyes. But she checked herself and settled for a single nod, "We can hope it goes well… So what's the status of the Imperium?"

Clearly thankful for the change in awkward conversation regarding culture and politics, the technician smiled professionally as all eyes turned to him and he gestured at the partially coated framework of the ship. "As you can see, sixty percent of the ship has its outer armour plating fitted. After intel from one of the Infinity's recent battles about the rate of fire issue assaulting her shields, we've improved the shield emitters to allow slight openings in the shield over weapon ports. Doctor Halsey also recently made a theoretical improvement to Forerunner vacuum energy extractors, we're testing it now and if it works one will be fitted as the ship's reactor."

The technician smiled proudly, but at receiving no immediate response, he nodded quickly, "Right! The primary weapon is already complete; a particle acceleration cannon somewhat similar to what could be found on Covenant ships, we estimate an effective range of one hundred and fifty thousands kilometres, with the vacuum energy reactor there should also be a very fast recharge time."

Lasky whistled at the information verbalised and pointed at a glinting silver section of the ship, "Is that it?"

The technician followed his finger and nodded, "Yes, yes, once the superstructure was completed it was the first thing we built. It has a thermally conductive layer that vents excess heat directly into space, but its contingency in the event of damage is a central venting port at the innermost base of the cannon. There," He pointed to where the cannon began where it formed into a circular hub concaving inwards to what was clearly the port.

"Obviously we confronted the issue of personnel requirements since the UNSC personnel only number around eighteen thousand here, so we've overhauled just about every system to be almost entirely automated. Engineering will require a crew of thirty and the bridge a crew of twelve, but beyond that, the ship essentially will run itself."

Lasky blinked, looked at the ship then back to the technician, "The ship only needs forty-two crewmembers?"

He nodded enthusiastically and smiled back down at the ship he'd bee helping work on, "Of course, that's not counting the human element. There will be a fully equipped medical department which will need staffing, and not to mention the research deck, hanger or Spartan decks. But in terms of what she needs, she's almost completely automated. Even the onboard fabrication plant will do its job turning out new MAC rounds, gear, and whatever you want from it with a few button pushes."

John straightened a folded his arms with a small smile of approval. Sarah matched the stance and nudged her commander, "Maybe this war won't be as bad as I thought."

Lasky's impressed smile gave way to a mild grimace, and he looked at Sarah, "Even with this beast out there, the Reapers still number in the tens of thousands. We're not winning this war without a lot of casualties."

"Like Palaven?" John asked.

Lasky grunted and resumed his slouch against the skips railing, "We'll need to discuss what to do about that…"

"With the Asari and Salarians?" John followed up instantly, his curiosity peeked about how they were to assist the Turians if they would at all.

Lasky allowed a long sigh to escape his chest and he pulled away from the railing to slouch back against the chair he'd occupied earlier. "Tevos called a summit to discuss the issue since a flotilla of Turian merchant vessels arrived at Thessia with their cargo bay's filled with Turians. Apparently, Palaven is being decimated."

Sarah shrugged nonchalantly, "Leave them in the hole they dug."

Lasky laughed a short chortle of ironic laughter, "I wish we could, but anyone we leave to the Reapers means more enemies to fight. We have to do something about this. Infinity is leaving for Thessia again tomorrow, I assume you're coming, Chief?"

John nodded simply with his jaw clenched, his mind already made up about pushing the discussions toward retaking the Turians homeworld.


End file.
